Our favorite espresso coffee cake with mile high crumb! With brewed espresso and ground espresso in the batter, this coffee cake actually tastes like coffee!
There are people who like coffee and then there are people who need coffee.
My husband Ryan is someone who needs coffee. I almost believe that Ryan needs coffee like he needs oxygen to breathe.
He’s been known to go to the coffee shop and order what’s called a red eye (a cup of coffee with one shot of espresso) or the black eye (a cup of coffee with 2 shots of espresso) at 10pm at night!!
I’m pretty sure the baristas know him by name and I really think they should offer some kind of discount to grad students!
There is no denying that Ryan’s coffee addiction has increased since we got a Nespresso machine – I mean we’ve already gone through 60 pods! No judgment zone friends!
I’m definitely more of a coffee every once in a while kind of girl, drinking it for fun. But my weakness is coffee flavored desserts. Espresso chip ice cream is way up there on that list, along with espresso creme brûlée (aaamazing!). I guess I like my espresso with a side of …. sugar hahaha.
I pulled out all the stops for this espresso coffee cake. To make this espresso coffee cake I used my Empire Red Nespresso machine.
There’s 2/3 cup brewed espresso in the cake itself along with finely ground espresso in the batter and the crumb. And since I brought up the crumb – it’s like a mile high! If you like as much crumb as cake in your coffee cake, you will love this.
For those of you who want an average amount of crumb, you can certainly prepare this recipe with half the amount of crumb topping recipe.
For the million dollar question – does it taste like espresso?
YEAH! This coffee cake tastes and smells like espresso, plus you can see flecks of ground espresso baked throughout.
It’s a coffee lover’s dream but friends did say it wasn’t overly in your face so even if you don’t love coffee (GASP!) I think you’ll still enjoy this!
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Espresso Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter, 2 sticks softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- ⅔ cup brewed espresso
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ tbsp finely ground espresso beans
Topping
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 1 ½ sticks butter, COLD and cubed (3/4 cup)
- 2 ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp finely ground espresso beans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325º F. Butter or spray a 9×13 inch pan.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the topping in a mixing bowl. Use your hands or spatula to combine the mixture into a clump-able sandy like texture. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar with electric mixer for 1-2 minutes, until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Use a spatula to hand mix in the brewed espresso.
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and finely ground espresso beans, mixing with a spatula until just combined. Just combined means it's okay if the batter has flour lumps or minimal streaks of flour visible. Pour the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter, breaking up large clumps of topping with your fingers.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.