Coffee Marble Cake

I remember having various coffee-flavored cakes when I was young, so I am sure that Mom made this cake. I would bet Mom made this just for the family, likely on a Sunday night, and not for any special events. With this marble cake, the coffee flavor is not overwhelming, but it adds a nice taste to the yellow cake. Maybe that was what started me on my love of coffee.

This recipe recommended using Coffee Frosting, which is another recipe that I found in Mom's recipe box, but that recipe needs to be made ahead, and I forgot to make it ahead. So I will save the coffee frosting for another day. For this case, I just used a coffee glaze frosting by mixing about two cups powdered sugar with one tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in two tablespoons of water, plus more water, as needed. Alternatively, you could just use powdered sugar to dust the cake. Also, I did not have dry milk on hand, so I just used a tablespoon of regular milk. And I substituted marsala wine for the sherry.

I made this as MDS's birthday cake this year. It was delicious and the two of us finished the whole thing within a few days, although it could easily satisfy several people.

Coffee Marble Cake 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. nonfat dry milk
• 1 1/2 tbsp. instant coffee
• 1 tbsp. sherry
• frosting

Heat sugar with 3/4 cup water until sugar is dissolved; cool thoroughly. Cream butter with brown sugar, vanilla and lemon juice until light. Add eggs and beat for two minutes on medium speed. In another bowl, blend flour, baking powder, salt and dry milk.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and the cooled sugar syrup to the butter and egg mixture, beating after each addition until smooth. In a separate bowl, blend coffee and sherry and stir in about 1/3 cup of batter.  Alternate spoonfuls of batter with small amounts of coffee mixture into a greased and floured nine-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until done. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Frost or dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!