When I think of coffee cake, I generally picture a sponge cake with a cinnamon streusel topping.  The Englishman however, grew up with a coffee cake that had actual coffee in it.  So when he asked that I create a cake with actual coffee in it for his birthday, I decided to take it up a notch and create a Chocolate Coffee Cake.

Since I had never made this cake before, I put a call out on twitter for the best coffee cake with actual coffee in it.  The general consensus was that the Pioneer Woman’s cake was the best one hands down, but it was a little too sweet for the Englishman’s blood (he doesn’t have a sweet tooth) so I found a different recipe to base my cake off of, with a few modifications on my part.

The cake came out light and fluffy and had a nice coffee and chocolate flavor.  And the Englishman loved it, which was the most important thing.

Chocolate Coffee Cake (makes 1 9×5 loaf)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp softened butter
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
4 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.  Lightly grease a loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl add your coffee, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix well.  In a smaller bowl add your butter, egg, vanilla and buttermilk.  Beat until well blended.

Gently fold your wet mixture into your dry mixture and stir well until the batter is nice and smooth.  Pour into your loaf pan and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let it cool.  Cut into slices and enjoy!