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By Request
Betty Shimabukuro
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Coffee coffee cake recipes keep pouring in
This must be the most popular cake I'd never heard of. Rita Souza wrote looking for a coffee cake made with a cake mix, sour cream and instant coffee crystals. Her request was printed here last week.
Well, 68 people (as of last night) came through with recipes. They had different names but were all similar, attributed to many sources, from newspaper clippings to a dozen different community cookbooks. It was a "By Request" record.
In my defense, I must note that no one I served this cake to had ever heard of it either, so I conclude that it exists in an alternate -- but well-populated -- universe.
The finder's fee (a cookbook) goes to the first person to come through, Jay Chung, who e-mailed a recipe at 5:50 a.m. last Wednesday -- but thanks to everyone who took the time to copy the recipe and get it to me.
The version that follows merges Chung's recipe with many of the others sent in. You can mix it up by using chocolate instead of yellow cake mix, or stirring in chocolate chips and/or nuts (1 cup total).
This is a fabulous cake that disappeared in minutes, with many people coming back for seconds and thirds. No wonder the recipe is so widespread.
Coffee Coffee Cake
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 box yellow cake mix
8 ounces sour cream
3 tablespoons instant coffee crystals
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan.
Cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs. Add vanilla, oil, water, cake mix and sour cream. Beat until well-combined. Add coffee crystals and stir lightly so bits of coffee will be visible in cake. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30 to 40 minutes.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Dust the cake with powdered sugar, or try one of these toppings, culled from the 68 variations submitted:
Glaze: Combine 1 tablespoon melted butter with 2 tablespoons lime juice, 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon water. Pour over warm cake.
Walnut topping: Combine 1 block softened butter with 4 teaspoons cream, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Spread on cake. Broil on second rack from top of oven, until topping is light brown.
Coffee icing: Combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar with 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Dissolve 1 teaspoon instant coffee in 1/3 cup water and add gradually to icing. Frost cake and let icing harden, 1 to 2 hours.
Coffee sauce: Heat 1/2 cup corn syrup, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 cup water to soft-ball stage. Remove from heat; add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Dissolve 3 tablespoons instant coffee crystals in 1/2 cup evaporated milk and add to sauce. Poke holes in top of slightly cooled cake. Pour sauce over top.
Cocoa sauce: Heat together 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 6 tablespoons milk. Poke holes in top of cake and cover with sauce. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Send queries along with name and phone number to: "By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. Or send e-mail to
bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com