Coffee and Spice Flavoured Loaf Cake

In the sweet cake world, loaf cakes are probably my favourite. Because I can eat them any time of the day, early in the morning with my first cup of coffee, mid morning, after lunch, as an afternoon snack or before going to bed :D Any excuse is a good one.
And there's no need to keep them in the fridge, so it's easy to grab a slice every time your eyes fall on it sitting on the kitchen counter.
Jokes aside, they are really my comfort food in the sweet world.
I like them also because they are easy and quick to prepare, and you can change their flavour by simply adding that little something, like some citrus zest, or spice or... coffee.
I'll be honest, just a couple years back I'd refuse to eat anything coffee flavoured. But that's changed. And more and more often I enjoy cakes, or cookies that have a slight but not overwhelming coffee flavour.
And while you'll be reading the recipe I will most probably be preparing it again. That fog outside my window just puts me in the mood for a nice slice of this dense, delicious cake because I doubt I'll survive the morning without a second cup of coffee.
p.s. the original recipe calls for cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves as spices for crumb part, I changed that into cinnamon and cardamom as I was in the mood and because cardamom is so good with coffee and because it was the first one to pop out of my spice cupboard :D

Coffee and spice flavoured loaf cake
(adapted from Sale&Pepe magazine)

* 80 g butter, softened
* 100 g brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 130 g flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 4 TBspoons milk
* 2 teaspoons ground or instant coffee
* a pinch of salt
Spicy crumbs :
* 30 g flour
* 30 g brown sugar
* 20 g butter
* 2 teaspoons instant coffee
* a pinch of cinnamon
* a pinch of ground cardamom

Grease and flour a small loaf pan - 10x16 cm (4x6")- or line it with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F).

Cream the softened butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
Add 1 egg, a pinch of salt and 1 TBspoon flour, mix well.
Mix the other egg with milk and coffee and add to the batter beating well again.
In the end, add the remaining flour sifted with the baking powder.
Mix it in and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
For the crumble part, whisk together the flour, the sugar, the coffee and the spices.
Add the chopped butter and rub it into the dry ingredients to get rough crumbs.
Sprinkle the crumbs over the cake and press them lightly into the batter.
Bake the cake for about 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let the cake cool down on a cooling rack.
Slice and serve with a cup of coffee.

Plumcake al caffè e briciole speziate
(ricetta tratta da Sale&Pepe)

* 80 g di burro, ammorbidito
* 100 g di zucchero di canna
* 2 uova
* 130 g di farina 00
* 1/2 cucchiaino di lievito per dolci
* 4 cucchiai di latte
* 2 cucchiaini di caffè macinato o solubile
* un pizzico di sale
Briciole speziate :
* 30 g di farina
* 30 g di zucchero di canna
* 20 g di burro
* 2 cucchiaini di caffè solubile
* un pizzico di cannella
* un pizzico di cardamomo in polvere

Preparate uno stampo piccolo da plumcake - 10x16 cm- imburratelo e infarinatelo oppure rivestitelo con la carta da forno.
Accendete il forno a 180°C.

Lavorate il burro ammorbidito con lo zucchero finché diventi spumoso.
Aggiungete un uovo, un pizzico di sale e un cucchiaio di farina (presa dal totale). Mescolate.
Mescolate l'altro uovo con il latte e il caffè, unitelo al impasto di burro e mescolate ancora con le fruste.
Setacciate insieme la farina restante con il lievito e unitela al impasto.
Versate l'impasto nello stampo.
Per le briciole, mescolate la farina, lo zucchero, il caffè e le spezie. Unite il burro tagliato a pezzettini e strofinate con le punte delle dita per ottenere delle briciole.
Cospargete le briciole sulla superficie del plumcake premendo leggermente.
Cuocete il plumcake nel forno caldo per 40-45 minuti circa (fate la prova stecchino, deve uscire asciutto).
Fatelo raffreddare su una griglia e servitelo con una tazza di caffè.

Kolač s kavom i mirisnim mrvicama
(iz časopisa Sale&Pepe)

* 80 g maslaca (omekšalog)
* 100 g smeđeg šećera
* 2 jaja
* 130 g brašna
* 1/2 žličice praška za pecivo
* 4 žlice mlijeka
* 2 žličice mljevene ili instant kave
* prstohvat soli
Mirisne mrvice :
* 30 g brašna
* 30 g smeđeg šećera
* 20 g maslaca
* 2 žličice instant kave
* prstohvat cimeta
* prstohvat mljevenog kardamoma

Pripremite kalup -duguljasti 10x16 cm- namastite ga maslacem i pospite brašnom ili obložite papirom za pečenje.
Pećnicu uključite na 180°C.

Umutite maslac sa šećerom dok ne postane pjenast.
Dodajte 1 jaje, prstohvat soli i 1 žlicu (od predviđene količine) brašna. Izmiješajte.
Pomiješajte drugo jaje s mlijekom i kavom pa dodajte u tijesto i ponovno umutite.
Na kraju dodajte ostatak brašna s praškom za pecivo.
Izmiješajte i ulijte tijesto u pripremljeni kalup.
Za mrvice pomiješajte brašno, šećer, kavu i začine.
Utrljajte maslac u suhe sastojke da dobijete mrvice.
Pospite mrvice po površni kolača i lagano ih utisnite u tijesto.
Pecite kolač u zagrijanoj pećnici 40-45 minuta (ili dok štapić uboden u sredinu ne izađe suh.
Ostavite kolač da se ohladi na rešetki.
Poslužite ga kad je hladan uz šalicu kave.