Baking is not an exact science (although, exact measurements are often needed) and with a few changes to a recipe, you can find new flavors you never thought of before, or find you are able to enhance the recipe beyond your imaginings. If you bake with cocoa powder often, and enjoy all those chocolate treats made at home, whether it is a cake, cookie, muffin, or the multitude of other baked goodies, you may be interested to know there’s a way you can enhance that chocolate profile: coffee.
Coffee in baking
With its strong flavor profile, and bitter taste, even if you do enjoy it on its own when using a manual coffee maker in the morning, you may not have thought of adding coffee to baking. However, you’ll be interested to know that blending coffee into your cocoa powder in baking will actually not impart a coffee flavor, but instead enhance the chocolate flavor, making it more intense and rich. Consider it similar to when you add salt into a baked good; it enhances the natural flavors of the baked good, without adding the savory saltiness.
Depending on the type of coffee you use when blending with cocoa powder, you’ll want to add different amounts. If you are using instant coffee, you’ll need possibly up to a couple tablespoons of coffee in your cocoa powder for a good intense flavor boost. If you use espresso powder you’ll need no more than a teaspoon or two, since espresso is made from darker roasted beans that have already been ground, brewed, dried, then ground again into a fine powder.
The next time you are making some baked goodies for yourself, consider using espresso powder or another coffee type when mixing in the cocoa powder. If you decide to use a coffee that you normally prepare for the morning with your manual coffee maker, and you normally use beans and fresh grind them, then you can choose the normal grind setting you use for your coffee as that will generally be the right consistency. If you grind espresso beans in the morning, then you don’t need to use much ground beans in your recipe, for other types, you need a bit more. An extra added bonus: if you use cheaper baking chocolate, coffee will make it taste like more expensive chocolate, for a more affordable price.
Give it a try
If you choose to, you can also use already brewed coffee from a manual coffee maker in place of water in certain recipes, like in cakes. Try not to use more than 50% coffee to water, and no more than 1 cup of coffee.
The next time you make brownies for your friends or bake a birthday cake with a strong chocolate flavor, consider adding coffee into the recipe to make for more rich and intense flavors. If you are looking for a good way to brew that perfect cup of coffee in the morning or brew a coffee to be added into your baked goods, check out Kajava Mama for their range of manual coffee makers.
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