astrora coffee

Here is our weekend list:

• Brew lots of nice coffee. If you’re not sure what to have have a look at our list and if you need some coffee-related advice, come and visit us.
• If you’re after tea to keep you warm, we’ve got both loose Suki Tea and special tea temples from Teapigs in stock.
• Bake something seasonally inspired by autumn, Halloween and pumpkins. How about pumpkin muffins (have a look at recipes from A Meandering Mango, Tartelette, The Pioneer Woman or Smitten Kitchen) or a spiced pumpkin cheesecake (use these recipes by BBC Food, Deliciously Organic or Smitten Kitchen for ideas). Or for all things pumpkin and a bunch of recipes, have a look at Closet Cooking‘s pumpkin post. If you find or have a particularly good recipe, let us know.
• Go out, soak in the sun, play with colourful leaves and take a few moments to watch the world go by.

All in all, have a great weekend and don’t forget, clocks move on Sunday.

We “re-discovered” this recipe by Dan Lepard in our files recently and after giving it a try can report that this is in fact a lovely, moist, just-the-right-kind-of-sweetness-with-a-hint-of-coffee cake. Perfect for this weekend!

Coffee & Ricotta Marble Cake

Ingredients:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar + a few tbsp extra for the coffee “drizzle” (or more for icing)
• 200g plain flour
• 150g ricotta
• 2 large eggs
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 30ml strong brewed coffee (or use 2 tbsp of ground coffee in 30ml boiling water instead) + about 1/3 cup extra for coffee “drizzle” or icing
• 25ml Marsala, dark rum or whiskey
• 1tbsp cocoa powder (will give it darker colour and works well with coffee)

Method:

• Grease the base and sides of a 17cm long loaf tin or similar or line with non-stick baking paper.
• Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/ 350F/gas mark 4.
• Brew the coffee using your preferred method. Alternatively, put ground coffee in a cup, stir in 25ml of boiling water and leave to infuse for 10 minutes, then strain.
• Beat the butter and sugar until soft and light.
• Measure the flour into a small bowl, spoon about a quarter in with the butter mixture and beat until smooth.
• Beat in the ricotta, then the eggs, one at a time.
• Sift in the baking powder and the remaining flour, and beat lightly.
• Divide the mixture in half. Beat the coffee and cocoa powder through one half, and the Marsala through the other.
• Spoon the mixture in alternate blobs into the tin, tap the tin firmly on the worktop to knock out any air bubbles, swirl the batter gently with a skewer and bake for 50-60 minutes.
• Dissolve a few tablespoons of sugar in about 1/3 cup of brewed coffee to make very sweet liquid. Drizzle it over the cake just to moisten the surface and give it a bit extra coffee flavour. Let it rest so it soaks in the liquid and cools. Alternatively, if you are a big icing fan, drizzle the cake with a simple coffee water icing to finish (see instructions here).

We tweaked the recipe a little bit (see the original recipe for comparison or if you would like to see a picture of the cake). Give it a try and enjoy it with a cup of coffee.