Date I made this recipe:
September 29, 2015 – National Coffee Day!
The Coffee & Tea
Lover's Cookbook by Barnie's Coffee & Team Company
Published by: Oxmoor
Press
ISBN: 0-8487-1490-3
Recipe: Espresso
Swirl Coffee Cake – p. 25
"I love coffee, I love tea...I love the Java Jive and it loves
me..."
Java Jive © 1940 – Ben Copland, composer; Milton Drake, lyricist
Oh, the excitement, or should I say, oh, the jitters! Today
is National Coffee Day (who knew?) and I've had this song, covered by both The
Ink Spots and Manhattan Transfer, going through my head all day.
I love coffee. But I
loved caffeine sooooo much that it was giving me an ulcer and so I've been
caffeine free for a few decades now.
Which means that what I drink in the morning is decaf coffee, a beverage
I describe as "hot, brown liquid."
People always laugh when I say that but the very thought of drinking
decaf makes most hard-core coffee drinkers shudder. I know I did before I underwent my own
version of "coffee" rehab.
I should have seen this coming as my mother was truly
addicted to the stuff, often, I kid you not, falling asleep late at night with
a cup of coffee on a saucer balanced perfectly in one hand, a talent of her to
be sure. She could drink pots of the
stuff before going to be and conk out in a nanosecond. Not so I.
In fact, while in college, my roommates and I guzzled
pitcher after pitcher of ice tea (the awful Lipton
stuff that came in a jar, flavored with lemon.
Shudder) while studying, and for eons, it did not occur to me that this
was likely the reason for my insomnia.
My Aunt Rose finally filled me in (I may have been in college but like
many young adults was clueless) and so I stopped drinking tea, switching
instead to full-strength caffeinated sodas, which is to say I simply traded one
addiction for another.
Things only got worse as time went on. While at one stressful job, my coworker,
Susan, and I would bitch about it while standing in the lunch room emptying out
pot after pot of coffee. In fact,
whenever one of us said "Coffee?????" with a title of a head toward
the lunchroom, it was our code word for "get thee to the lunchroom, stat
because a) I need to talk or b) I have some dirt. Of course we clammed up the minute anybody
else walked in but then started up again the minute they left, all the while
drinking and then remaking (we are not cretins) a fresh pot for the rest of the
class.
When Susan and I traveled to France in 1988, I fell in love with
a French breakfast: a hot pot of coffee,
perfectly warmed milk and French bread that tasted like heaven. C'est superb!
A return trip to France for my honeymoon in 1991 yielded the same
results and then as if French coffee wasn't the bomb, we went to Italy where I
had bona fide espresso and yes, often late at night, just like mom. Even my husband got into a coffee mood and he
doesn't generally drink the stuff.
But then things came to a screeching halt as I started
having stomach problems. So I went to
see a (new) doctor and we met in his office so he could review my
symptoms. "How much coffee do you
drink per day?" he queried.
"Oh, probably a pot of it," said I. "And sodas?" "Umm....maybe 3-4?" "Per day?" he asked. "Per day." "And chocolate?" "Chocolate? Of course.
Duh."
At which point, the man reached into a desk drawer, pulled
out a bottle of water, slammed it on the desk and said, somewhat snarkily
"Have you ever heard of water?????"
"I might have," said I.
And so the good doctor pointed out that my stomach problems
were due to too much caffeine and that I needed to cut way back if not cut it
out entirely if I didn't want further problems, a message I took to heart, such
that when I went home, I decided to go cold turkey. This was a big mistake.
A few years before I quit caffeine, I stopped smoking but in
that case, I weaned myself down to two cigarettes a day before quitting all
together. But with caffeine, instead of
cutting down and cutting out, I stupidly got it into my head that it was all or
nothing and so I stopped the presses on the whole shebang.
And people, was I ill or what? I got a migraine of monumental proportions
and my back when out such that I was reduced to sleeping on the floor in a
fetal position because it hurt to lay on my mattress or sofa. All this happened over Labor Day weekend, no
less, and so for days on end, I suffered until finally, on a Tuesday, I could
get in to see my chiropractor. And
believe it or not, the thought of starting up coffee again and then quitting,
only to go through that hell again, was what made me caffeine-free. And except for a few serving boo-boo's here
and there where servers poured me the real deal (and I could tell with one sip
that it was real), I have given up regular coffee, sodas with caffeine and have
cut down considerably on chocolate although I do like some here and there. Perhaps a bit more "here" than
"there" but it's chocolate so... As a PS, giving up two out of three
vices – cigarettes and coffee is not bad but I'll be damned if I give up
cocktails. Damned, I tell you!
Now all this happened before Starbucks came on the scene world-wide and so traveling to
countries where coffee is mostly revered was challenging.
When Andy and I went to Spain
and Portugal
in 1993, I expanded my Spanish language skills to include the word "descafeinado"
– decaf! I used this at a few hotels we
stayed at and it worked like a charm. It
didn't work so much at smaller hotels or small restaurants but I was too busy
drinking wine, and Andy, beer, to care!
Then in England
in 1994, I pretty much gave it up all together as I couldn't drink tea (pity
that, as I'm told there is nothing like an English high tea) and the English
really don't do a very good job on coffee.
It's passable, but that's all it was.
If anything, I was more challenged by what to drink in a pub where beer
and ale are king than I was with the coffee issue and finally decided that
English hard cider was not all that bad.
In fact, it was almost tasty. I
hope I don't have to tell you that ordering wine in a pub back then was not a
good idea. Quite.
Rounding out the last of our "across the pond"
excursions (several in a row) was a trip to Eastern Europe – Czech Republic,
Poland, Austria and Germany – and for that, I found that Folgers made decaf
coffee in little "travel" tea bags so all I had to do was ask for hot
water and voila – coffee!
Except. Asking for
hot water proved to be more challenging than I ever imagined as I didn't know
the word for hot water in any of those countries' languages. Unbelievably, I managed to get hot water in Prague and Krakow (Poland )
and even in Austria
despite the fact that Viennese
kaffeehauses (coffee houses) are a big deal.
(By the way, to this day, Andy and I have no idea what on earth a dish
called "Drunken Man" in Prague
was all about. We saw that on a
restaurant's menu and just laughed.)
So I was all happy and everything until we got to Germany . Andy knew a little German and so he told me
the words for "hot" and "water" and given that I studied
and romance languages, I asked for hot
water the way I would in Spain ,
France or Italy which is
to say "water hot." So I asked
for "wasser heis" and got a blank stare. So I tried again and nothing. Then Andy said "I think they say it like
we do – hot water" and so this time I said "Heiswasser" and
liftoff! We had liftoff! I got my hot water and all was well with the
world.
Since then, you can't go two feet without running into a
coffee shop and not just here but pretty much everywhere. An acquaintance of mine worked in Kuwait City
That said, decaf drinkers are somewhat discriminated against
(much to my dismay) and a few years back, Starbucks
decided not to brew decaf after 11:00 (they do pour-overs instead) and this
ticked me off to no end but there's nothing that can be done about it. Our local chain, Caribou, though brews decaf in small pots that are available all
day, every day and this is why I love them and patronize them. Hell, even McDonalds has brewed decaf all day every day and you know what,
it's not too bad. Plus, McD is
practically everywhere so in a pinch, it will do.
So you might ask
yourself why then, do I have a coffee and tea cookbook? Because I can. And because not all the recipes have coffee
or tea in them, in fact only a handful do.
And so I made this recipe using decaf espresso (Italians everywhere are
shuddering) and am eating it while drinking my decaf coffee. And that's how I roll.
This cookbook is divided into themed chapters: "Coffee Talk," where you'll learn
all about coffee and the making thereof; "Awakenings," containing
recipes for breads, pancakes and other breakfast items; "Beyond the Coffee
Break" although it's more like snacks to go with an afternoon tea and "Scrumptious
Endings" that has desserts and coffee drinks. I don't think anyone will have any trouble
finding some incredible edible to eat with their coffee or tea. As a note, I was tempted by "Java Gingerbread"
– p. 44 – but since refuse to get into the whole fall spice mode and that
includes gingerbread, I passed. I don't
like fall. I don't really like fall
spices. Don't get me started then, on
the burn I felt when Starbucks
started advertising that Pumpkin Lattes were coming soon, this in July! No!
No, no, hell no! And this is why,
in part, Java Gingerbread is not being featured here today; instead, you are
getting a delicious espresso cake (although mine was decaf) with chocolate because I like to live
dangerously! Well almost. Enjoy.
Espresso Swirl Coffee
Cake – Yield: 12 servings
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ c plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 ½ tablespoons finely ground espresso beans
¾ cup (1 and ½ sticks) unsalted butter: ¼ cup unsalted butter for the topping, ½ cup
unsalted butter, softened, for the batter.
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
Combine the first three ingredients – brown sugar, flour and
ground espresso – stirring well. Cut in
¼ cup butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
Ann's Note: this is so much
easier if done in a Cuisinart.
Beat ½ cup softened butter at medium speed of an electric
mixer until creamy; gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each
addition.
Combine sour cream and baking soda; stir well and set
aside. Combine 2 cups flour, baking
powder, and salt; add to egg mixture alternating with sour cream mixture,
beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Mix at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in chocolate morsels.
Pour batter into a buttered 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Sprinkle espresso streusel mixture over
batter. Swirl batter gently with a
knife, if desired. Ann's Notes: this batter got a little stiff and I'm not
sure why. It didn't pour so I had to
spoon it instead. As to the espresso streusel, it was good but it made a
lot.
Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick
inserted in center comes out clean. Cool
in pan on a wire rack.
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