Baking in BC: Mocha Snack Cake

Mocha Snack Cake in BC

(with help from Serious Coffee)

Okay, I just want to start by saying that this is my favorite new thing I’ve made in a long time. It’s really, really delicious, and very easy to make, and you should brew up some coffee and make it immediately. You will not regret it.

I wanted to make something new and (hopefully) special for Mom and Stephen, and they both seemed happy with the idea of Mocha Snack Cake.  This was all I had to gather up to make it:

mocha snack cake ingredients gathered

This, however was the key:

Serious Coffee

I needed a cup of brewed hot coffee and didn’t want to make a whole pot at Mom’s, so we stopped off at Serious Coffee in Sooke and picked up a cup. I think they may have to take some of the credit for this, because the cake has a deep, rich coffee flavor to it and that’s clearly where it came from.

Just as I was getting started, prowling around Mom’s kitchen for exciting new baking implements and ingredients, the kids announced they were off to the playground with Dave. We’d spent the morning at Whiffen Spit, and they were dying to get back outside.

kids heading out

Off they went with Dave, while Mom & I hung out and I got the cake going. The exciting part? I got to use Mom’s Kitchen Aid mixer. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Kitchen Aid mixer

I love the Sunbeam mixer that I have at home, and I actually love the more hands-on nature of it, because baking for me is as much about the process as the results, but what a treat to use one of these heavy-duty, does-all-the-work-for-you, high end Kitchen Aids. It was amazing. The bowl doesn’t even turn, the blade thingy does all the work.

I creamed the butter and sugar together, effortlessly. (The tricky part was finding unsalted butter at the local grocery store, for some reason, that took longer than getting it mixed in with the sugar!)

butter & sugar in mixer

Then I added the egg. No normal egg, this egg…these are special eggs from a local farm and picked up from (or delivered by) Shirley the Egg Lady. They’re green eggs (but not of the Dr. Seuss variety) laid by local hens.

green egg from Shirley

The photo doesn’t really show off the green shell, but trust me, it was a neat-looking egg.

Egg and vanilla were added and mixed, gloriously.

butter, sugar, egg, vanilla

In a separate bowl, I whisked together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.

dry ingredients

Then I alternated adding that and the hot coffee to the mixture in the Kitchen Aid until it was all blended. That took some doing, I kept spilling it over the edge as I am used to my mixing bowls with the pouring spout, but eventually I got it and then poured everything into a square baking ban.

batter in pan

The batter was beyond delicious. I had a quick taste, then gave Stephen the bowl to enjoy. Mom says that’s a tradition and it seemed like a good one.

While it was baking, the kids came back. Dave reported that they were TOO TIRED to play any longer. I have never heard that excuse from them before, but I was happy to see them.

The cake was ready at about 25 minutes or so, I think. I can’t remember. That was days ago and I couldn’t blog from BC since I only brought the iPad with me.

mocha cake, baked, with Juliet

Now here’s the thing. I took some pictures of the inside of this cake, but they don’t do it justice.

cake

This cake is incredible. It’s the best new thing I’ve made in weeks. The texture is soft and fluffy, with an unexpected lightness. The flavor is fantastic, an absolutely perfect mix of chocolate from the cocoa and real, true coffee flavor. It’s a perfect blend. It’s a perfect cake.

I was going to dust it with powdered sugar, but after tasting it, I realized it didn’t need it. It didn’t need anything. It was sheer perfection in an 8 x 8 pan. The only bad thing about it was my urge to devour the whole thing right then & there.

Maybe it was the Serious Coffee, maybe it was the Kitchen Aid mixer, or maybe it’s just a mix of ideal ingredients in perfect proportions. I will have to make it again to find out.

MOCHA SNACK CAKE RECIPE

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