Great British Bake Off winner and keen runner Frances Quinn shares her favourite recipes for runners.
Featuring, coffee, porridge and cake, what’s not to love? We’ve got suggestions for those who are dairy and sugar free.
COFFEE SHOT ‘CUP’ CAKES RECIPE
(Recipe from ‘Quinntessential Baking’ by Frances Quinn (Bloomsbury)
Baked and served in take-away coffee cups, these cakes will bring out your inner barista. They are soaked in a coffee syrup with, if you like, a shot of coffee liqueur, before being topped with sweetened mascarpone cream (or use whipped cream if you prefer).
You can find paper espresso cups online or, even better, make friends with your local coffee shop and buy the cups from them. I would definitely advise using the brown kraft ripple cups, as the outer rippled layer will conceal any butteriness that can soak through from the cake through the inner cardboard.
Makes 12 small Cakes
For the cakes
3 tbsp instant coffee
3 tbsp freshly boiled hot water
3 tbsp whole milk
150g butter, softened
150g light muscovado sugar
3 eggs (at room temperature)
150g self-raising flour
150g walnuts, toasted and chopped (see p.82)
For the coffee syrup
½ tbsp instant coffee
50ml boiling water
50g caster sugar
½ tbsp coffee liqueur, such as Tia Maria, optional
For the topping
250g mascarpone
Few drops of vanilla extract
50g icing sugar
Dash of milk or cream, if needed
To decorate
Cocoa powder
Equipment
12-hole muffin tin
12 espresso-sized (115ml/4oz) paper cups – ideally kraft ripple (see directory, p.308)
Cocktail stick
Medium paintbrush
Coffee-bean stencil (see below) or other stencil, optional
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Line the muffin tin with the cups.
Mix the coffee with the hot water, then stir in the milk. Set aside to cool. Using a hand-held electric whisk, or in a free-standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together for 5–10 minutes or until very light and creamy.
The mixture will turn from a rich toffee brown to a pale café-au-lait shade. Break the eggs into a mug or jug and beat with a fork. Gradually add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. Should the mixture look like it’s curdling, add a spoonful of the flour. Sift in the flour and fold in until just combined.
Finally, stir through the coffee and chopped walnuts.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cups and bake for 15–20 minutes or until the cakes have risen and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.
While the cakes are baking, make the syrup. Put the coffee in a small pan, add the boiling water and stir to dissolve the granules. Stir in the sugar. Set the pan over a medium heat and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer gently for a few minutes or until the sugar is completely dissolved and you are left with a runny syrup. Remove from the heat and stir in the liqueur, if using.
Once the cakes are baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes.
During this time, prick them all over with a cocktail stick and brush over the coffee syrup using a paintbrush or pastry brush, allowing the syrup to soak into the sponge. Use about ½ tablespoon syrup per cup.
Remove the cakes from the tin, still in their cups, and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Put the mascarpone and vanilla in a bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Beat together until creamy and well combined, adding a dash of milk or cream to slacken the mix slightly, if necessary. Spoon some
on to each cake and spread level with a palette knife. Sift the cocoa on top, either all over or through a coffee-bean stencil to create some barista art.
