White Chocolate Coffee Cakes

Regular readers will be all too aware of my fondness for leaf tea. In fact I would even go so far as to say I love it almost as much as I do cake. For that reason coffee rarely gets a look in here at Le Château du Boulanger, but just to show there's no hard feelings I've come up with this easy recipe that showcases the beautiful roasted aromatics of black coffee with a cheeky white chocolate twist. Although I've used a muffin tray to bake these little lovelies in I've not lined it with paper cases, as I think you get a much more enticing and appealing finish this way, not to mention a deeper, more biscuity flavour to the crumb. Also, the butter icing is entirely unnecessary, which makes it all the more essential.

Prep time: 20 Minutes
Baking time: 25-30 Minutes
175g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
175g Caster Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1tsp Baking Powder
200g Plain Flour
3tbsp Strong Black Coffee (Cold)
100g White Chocolate (Grated or very finely chopped)

For the coffee icing
100g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
200g Icing Sugar (Sifted)
1tbsp Strong Black Coffee (Cold)
1tsp Cocoa Powder (For dusting)

We begin by preheating the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 12 cup muffin tray and place a little disc of baking paper in the base of each cup. In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and the sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the baking powder with the flour, then add the coffee and mix together to a smooth batter. Finally, fold through the grated white chocolate. Fill each cup evenly with the batter and bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until each cake has risen and a metal skewer can be cleanly removed when inserted into the middle of one of the cakes. When you are happy they are cooked remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 20 minutes. To remove the cakes from the tin, run a flat bladed knife around the edge of each cake, then gently coax them from their cups. Peel the baking paper from the base of each cake and place on a wire rack until cool.

For the icing cream together the remaining butter and icing sugar. Add the coffee and mix until smooth and silky. Spread the icing over the top of each cake and finish with a light dusting of cocoa powder. These won't last too long, partly because they are a light sponge, but mainly because they are so downright irresistible!