Gastroanthropology

Coffee Cardamom Cake + Coffee Buttercream

Before moving to London I rarely ate cake. For a birthday or special occassion, yes, but other than that, no. Then, I started working at an urban farmhouse kitchen where people flocked to around 3pm for this thing called "Afternoon Tea". I knew fancy hotels did it up with speciality teas, dainty crustless sandwiches, scones + clotted cream, and desserts, but I thought the term was just for that - something kind of special. I noticed that for most "having a tea" in the afternoon is like the American after school snack, a daily ritual. Having a snack in the afternoon was referred to "having a tea," even if no tea was drunk. Even when meeting my friends in the afternoon for coffee, they would say that we were meeting for tea.

Though waning a bit with the rise of the popularity of coffee, tea is still a huge part of British culture. I worked in an office were every 30 minutes someone would notify everyone that the kettle was on and to place their orders. Most have English Breakfast with a splash of milk, and seemed to consume at least a half dozen cups by noon.

Though I haven't yet caught onto major tea consumption, being surrounded by cakes at the farmhouse kitchen everyday certainly upped my cake consumption. My favorites...a Victoria Sponge - vanilla cake layered with berries (or jam) and whipped cream, and a coffee-cardamom cake - a flavor combination new to me, but quite popular here, so tasty and addictive. While most who came to the kitchen in the afternoons washed this down with tea (even though the cake is coffee flavored) I would sneak little slivers of it all day long.

COFFEE CARDAMOM CAKE

• 12 green cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, and extra for cake pans
• 1 1/2 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 Tbs Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temp, and extra for cake pans
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temp
• 3 Tbs instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules
• 1 1/4 cup whole milk

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C

Crush cardamom pods to remove seeds with mortar and pestle. Remove pods from mortar and continue to crush just the seeds. Sift together drys (including ground cardamom seeds) in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl beat together butter and sugar for three minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Dissolve espresso or coffee into the milk. Alternate adding drys and milk into the butter, sugar, egg mixture. Start and end with drys. 

Evenly divide the batter between two buttered and floured 8-inch round cake pans. Bake for about 30 minutes until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool and remove from pans. Once cooled completely, decorate with coffee buttercream (recipe follows). 

*When choosing cardamom pods they should be a vibrant green color. If they are turning a slightly tannish/brown color they are no longer fresh.

COFFEE BUTTERCREAM

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 12 oz unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 Tbs instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules

METHOD

Make this buttercream as cake is baking or cooling. In a double boiler whisk together egg whites, sugar, and coffee granules until all the sugar granules are dissolved (this is the method for a swiss meringue buttercream). You can test this by touching the egg whites between your thumb and pointer finger and feeling for the sugar granules. The coffee granules should be dissolved at this point as well. A bit unseemly, but it should feel like snot. At this point remove the top bowl and whisk with a hand mixer (or transfer to KitchenAid) to stiff peaks. Add butter a few tablespoons at a time while the mixer is going. It may start to look like it is breaking - don't despair! - if you continue to beat the mixture it will come together into a smooth buttercream. Decorate the cake with the buttercream as you wish! 

Cinnamon Coffeecake Muffins

I've become quite a coffee snob lately. Antipodean coffee shops seem to be popping up all over London, and I'm loving their flat whites. For those not familiar with the flat white think a smaller (so stronger) and smoother latte. For me a good coffee starts with a lovely shot of espresso (Monmouth or Climpson's espresso beans are my favorites in London) and perfectly steamed milk - teeny tiny bubbles for microfoamed milk.

Usually I just drink it alone. But, occasionally, I need an accompaniment. I'm not a huge fan of super sweet for breakfast so these wholewheat cinnamon coffeecake muffins are perfect when eggs and bacon is too much for my stomach to handle.

CINNAMON COFFEECAKE MUFFINS

• 3 c wholewheat flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 oz butter
• 1 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 c sour cream

Filling/Topping

• 2/3 c dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbs whole wheat flour
• 1 c chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are my favorite for this)

METHOD

Combine together and mix all ingredients for the filling/topping. Combine all dry ingredients for the muffin recipe. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in each time. Alternate adding dry ingredients and sour cream until just combined. Fill muffin cups about 1/4 of the way up. Sprinkle a bit of the nut mixture. Add more batter till muffin cup is about 2/3rds of the way full. Sprinkle more of the nut mixture over top. Bake at 350F until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Large muffins take about 20 minutes to bake and this recipe makes 10-12 large muffins.

These are best straight from the oven, so I often just make a half batch (in which case I use two eggs and a scant 3/4 c of sour cream).

Well it is approaching noon, my favorite time of day for a flat white, so I'm off to get my fix.

Coffee + Cupcakes in Covent Garden

Monmouth Coffee is some of the best I've had in London. It's strong, but not in that I got burnt in the roaster type of way. They also use full-fat jersey milk - can't start an order with a skim-this or a skinny-that! I almost always go to their Covent Garden location as its just a few minutes walk from my apartment - though they have other London locations.

Monmouth Coffee roasts coffee from single farms, estates, and cooperatives. They travel the world to find the best and follow the coffee from bean to cup. They also make it their business to know everyone and everything involved with those beans. The staff is super-friendly and laid-back - this is a must for me because its often my first interaction with the public pre-coffee. 

I love the cobblestone street its on, the little potted plants up top, and the nearby shops. Today I ventured a few blocks further to the Covent Garden Market area where they have recently welcomed a new member, Ella's Bakehouse. A few weeks ago I posted on a No-Bake White Chocolate Cheesecake that I found in one of London's local papers. Lorraine Pascale, founder of Ella's Bakehouse, provided the recipe and I quite liked the ease and taste of the cheesecake. So I thought a visit to her cupcake shop was a must.

The cupcake craze of the States - I've made trips to NYC for Magnolia and to LA for Sprinkles, as well as frequenting Kara's in San Francisco - has definitely made the jump over the Atlantic.  While the London counterparts, Primrose and Hummingbird, don't stand a chance in a cupcake contest, I had high hopes for Ella's. I found Primrose cupcakes to be hard as hockey pucks and little interest in the flavor department. Hummingbird's cupcakes are good and I love the American-inspired flavors. Though I find some of their other bakery contributions to outshine their famous cupcakes.

So how does Ella's compare?

Hands down the best Red Velvet Cupcake I've had in London. I gobbled it up - don't worry summer bikini, I ate a mini-Ella's Red Velvet Cupcake AND it uses some half-fat ingredients. Pleasantly and surprisingly it didn't taste like half-fat. It was moist and had the perfect cream-cheese frosting to cupcake ratio. It also wasn't heavily glittered like some of its friends in the cupcake case.

I also tried the chocolate and vanilla in mini-form as well. Chocolate was decent but unmemorable. The vanilla was really dry in a way that I suspect it was sitting in the case all day yesterday and hoped to be sold today. It was - to me. My friend got a Lemon-Raspberry cupcake that was great and a Peanut Butter cupcake was moist, but the flavor just didn't hit the mark with me. So, I'm absolutely going back for some Red Velvet and Lemon-Raspberry, but probably need some convincing to go for any of the others.