Coffee Desserts – How to Make Coffee-Flavored Cakes, Cookies, Cupcakes, and More
Coffee desserts – desserts that taste like coffee – are for true coffee lovers! Learn how to make the best coffee-flavored cakes, coffee cookies, coffee cupcakes, and more!
While crumb cakes designed to be enjoyed with coffee are wonderful, sometimes you want the coffee flavor in the dessert itself. There are four ways that I recommend you impart that coffee flavor to your baked goods.
Four Ways to Make Coffee Desserts
There are four main ways to get the flavor of coffee into your baked goods. You can combine methods within a single dessert, and keep in mind that many of these methods can also be used when baking with tea, too.
Brewed Coffee
If you are using a recipe that calls for water, replace that water with brewed coffee. I suggest making a very strong cup of coffee for the best results.
Instant Coffee / Instant Espresso
Using instant coffee, instant coffee, instant espresso, or Starbucks Via is the most popular technique for creating coffee-flavored desserts. This is the easiest technique and it works well every time! Try mixing some instant coffee into chocolate cupcakes or chocolate cake to impart a mocha flavor. You can also blend vanilla extract with instant coffee to use in coffee frosting.
In this method, you add the powder directly to your recipe. I suggest adding a little bit at a time and doing a taste test to see if the flavor is right. Keep in mind that you can use less instant espresso since it’s stronger than instant coffee.
Coffee-Infused Butter
One of my favorite ways of making coffee desserts is to use coffee-infused butter. The best part about this method is that you can use your favorite coffee beans to give the butter the coffee flavor profile that you love best.
To infuse your butter with the flavor of coffee, start by melting butter in a pot on the stove. Add coffee beans and bring to a simmer for about five minutes.
Remove from heat, cover, and steep for fifteen minutes. Using a sieve, remove the beans from the butter.
Refrigerate if needed to come to the correct temperature for your recipe.
Tip: You will lose some of the butter that sticks to the beans. Three quarters of a cup of plain butter will yield a half cup of coffee butter.
Coffee-Infused Milk
If your recipe calls for milk, use coffee-infused milk instead. The process is exactly the same as the one above for making coffee-infused butter.
Heat milk and coffee beans until just boiling. Remove from heat, cover, and steep for fifteen minutes. Using a sieve, remove the beans from the milk and set the milk aside.
Once it comes to room temperature, use the milk as directed by your recipe.
Coffee Dessert Ideas
Here are some recipes that you can try these techniques on:
Coffee Infused Milk and Butter for Coffee Desserts
Instructions
- In a saucepan on medium-high, heat milk and coffee beans until just boiling. Or, if using butter, melt butter and then add coffee beans.
- Lower heat so the beans and milk/butter come to a simmer.
- Simmer for five minutes.
- Remove from heat and cover. Let sit for fifteen minutes.
- Use a sieve to remove the beans.
- Let the milk or butter come to room temperature. If using butter, refrigerate until it is no longer a liquid. or freeze until no longer a liquid (if you need to use it quickly).
Notes
Nutrition
Hi. Are you saying instant coffee won’t work?
No… you can certainly use Instant Coffee. This is just another method.
This sounds like it would produce a fantastic punch of flavor, however, 1 cup of GOOD coffee beans can cost $13! I would love seeing if the same flavor punch could be produced with a much smaller quantity of ground coffee. Obviously that would depend on the grind size, but maybe it would be more economical though not as consistently reproducible. For example, a similar full immersion extraction method is the French Press. I use 30 g of very coarsely ground beans for 500 ml of near-boiling water and it steeps for about 3-3 1/2 minutes.
Also, just wondering if you tried your extraction method with a chocolate recipe that calls for water instead of milk. I heard that milk mutes the chocolate flavor, hence using water. Anyways, I know it’s hard to make a mocha-tasting cake because of all the sugar and how over-powering chocolate is, but maybe it would work … I guess I just wrote a novel-length comment. Love your site and posts! Just discovered you. :D
I guess I may have to do some experiments of my own now. ;)
This sucks.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about coffee. Regards
I must say, this is a great idea. You have the best of both worlds. I love coffee (and cupcakes) so I can’t wait to try these out.
I used this method to make white chocolate espresso cupcakes with mocha frosting topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean…….to die for!!!
I concurred that coffee has to be ‘REAL COFFEE’ grounded from freshly roasted beans and not instant or those franchised brands – not even Nespresso or CBTL :-P
Thank you for sharing your knowledge :-)
Kympossible – That’s a great question. It doesn’t have to be whole milk. In fact, I think I used 2% milk. However, whole milk definitely makes for richer baked goods.
Could I say thank you enough?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22327816@N06/5532021552/
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this may be a dumb question… does it need to be whole milk, and why?
I wish I knew this method before I bought instant coffee for my own Irish coffee cupcakes. My household is a bit snobby about coffee so that instant stuff will only be useful in baking. In fact, I need to go find more recipes to use it up…
Thanks for sharing, I will use this sometime in the future!
That is a brilliant idea!!
what would you recommend doing with the coffee beans after the steeping?
Following!
9 years later but my only idea is to wash and dry the leftover coffee beans and then grind them for a body scrub
Instant coffee powders are all in the past! I love my coffee, so today I tried this quick and easy solution for coffee infused cupcakes. You blew me away with the intense flavor! This works beautifully!
Shut up gosh
Fabulous idea. I’m a coffee addict, and have never been able to get the flavor quite right in my cupcakes. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks!!