When we were in college (back in 90s), there weren't any cafe shops or popular chain of cafes in India. All we used to get was only two types of coffees, "instant" and "filter" in restaurants (and of course there were "Chai" wala tapri). If we wanted a good quality (read strong) coffee (which will give an instant kick to our lethargic minds) we used to head to the South Indian Coffee House which, I think, every city in India boasts of (in addition to the "Great Punjab" or "Golden Punjab"). The coffee you get there is always "filter" and always "strong". Interestingly some of our know-all friends had told us that the rule of thumb while drinking coffee at a South Indian Coffee House is, you need to add enough sugar which will make the spoon stand in an upright position in a cup. Now thats what I call a strong coffee! One shot and you are up all night (studying or doing whatever you fancy :D).
In addition to these coffee houses, there were the regular restaurants serving regular coffee, but I do remember some of them serving it with a sprinkle of cocoa on top. I guess that was my first introduction to mocha coffee, albeit a rough Indian version of the famed fancy one.
In the late 90s, Indian coffee scene was flooded with the advent of big cafe chains of the likes of "Baristas", "Cafe Coffee Day" and "Costa Cafe" to name a few (although we haven't yet got any Starbucks here), which changed the face of Indian coffee culture. Suddenly names like "cappuccino" "espresso" "mocha" became common amongst coffee drinkers.We were introduced to a whole range of flavours and add-ons in coffee and even the most committed "Chai" persons were tempted to try it. My own favourites are the Hazelnut Cappuccino and, of course, Mocha.
So, when Lena at The Home Bakers' Club chose this recipe for our group, I was very excited coz I wanted to try this cake ever since I got my copy of Coffee Cakes by Lou Siebert Pappas.
The Home Bakers' Club was started by Joyce@ Kitchen Flavours with an intention to bring together home bakers who share the same passion in baking and who love collecting cookbooks! We are going to bake from one chosen cookbook until every recipe has been baked. Currently we are baking from "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas and this is our sixth bake from the book. If you are interested in joining in, please visit The Home Bakers' Club site for more information.
I have not included the recipe in my post as only the member who chose the bake is allowed to post the recipe. This month's cake was selected by Lena@Frozen Wings. Lena has a very inspiring blog and an amazing collection of recipes and bakes in her repertoire . Please visit her blog to view the full recipe.
The brief accompanying this cake in the book describes it perfectly,
A swirl of chocolate threads this coffee-flavoured butter cake for a sumptuous treat with cappuccinos or lattes.
Enjoy!!
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