This coffee fudge traybake is a simple snack cake with grown-up flavor, topped with a swoon-worthy coffee fudge icing ~ it’s British traybake meets Texas sheet cake, and I’m a big fan!
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This recipe speaks to me ~ it’s got so many of my favorite dessert qualities: a nutty cake with a tender crumb and a sweet fudgy frosting. It’s lightly adapted from Mary Berry’s Coffee Fudge Traybake from her book My Kitchen Table: 100 Cakes and Bakes, published in 2011. You can just see it in the photos…this cake is going to be good!
What’s a traybake?
In Britain, a traybake simply means a cake baked in a rectangular pan and cut into squares ~ in this case the coffee fudge cake is baked in a 9×13 pan. They’re casual homey everyday bakes, which is just what I’m all about here. This one is thin like a sheet cake or snack cake, with the most insanely delicious coffee fudge frosting.
How to make the coffee fudge icing in a saucepan
The simple little cake takes only about 20 minutes to bake. When the cake comes out of the oven that’s your cue to start the frosting:
- Melt butter, brown sugar, and instant coffee in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar and combine well.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for a minute.
- Beat in sifted powdered sugar.
- Immediately pour over the still hot cake.
Coffee fudge icing sets fast ~ spread it while it’s hot
Boiled frosting starts to set up like fudge immediately and this makes it difficult to spread over a large surface. Here’s how I do it:
Start with a warm to hot cake and hot frosting.
Slowly pour the frosting over the cake, starting in one corner and drizzling it in long sweeps to cover as much of the surface as you can.
Immediately take an offset spatula and nudge the frosting into any bare areas. Don’t worry too much if it doesn’t exactly go to the edges of the cake.
Resist the urge to fuss with the frosting. Put down the spreader and walk away. (Until it cools, then dig in!)
Coffee fudge traybake questions
Yes! Use a good 1:1 baking mix. The cake will be quite delicate.
Yes, use 3/4 cups all-purpose flour + 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt. It’s a little high in baking powder by American cake standards, but not unusual for a British traybake. Mary Berry does this fairly often to get a light, reliable rise.
You might fold 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips into the cake batter.
Yes, for nut allergies you can leave them out, no other changes. In all other cases, I highly recommend them as they add to the flavor and texture of the cake. You can substitute pecans if you like.
I wouldn’t. Brewed coffee adds extra liquid and weak flavor; instant coffee gives you concentrated flavor without changing the icing consistency.
Yes, cool it then wrap in plastic, then in foil.
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Coffee Fudge Traybake
Equipment
- 9×12 baking pan or quarter sheet pan with sides
- stand mixer
- electric beaters
- medium saucepan
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups self-rising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
- 3/4 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp instant espresso powder
- 1 Tbsp vanilla paste or extract
icing
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 4 Tbsp heavy cream or half and half
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (measure before sifting)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and butter your 9×13 pan.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and chopped nuts. Set aside.
- Cream the soft butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necesdsary. I use a stand mixer but you can also use electric beaters.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl to get everything incorporated. Blend in the oil, instant espresso powder, and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low gradually add the flour mixture, blending just until there is no dry flour left. Finish with a silicone spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl.
- Turn the batter into your greased pan, spreading it out evenly from side to side. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until just done in the center. My cake took 20 minutes. Don't over-bake ~ this is a thin cake and bakes quickly.
coffee fudge icing
- While the cake is baking prep all your ingredients for the frosting and have them ready.
- After the cake comes out of the oven, start your frosting. Put the butter, brown sugar, cream and espresso powder in a medium saucepan and heat to melt the butter. Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for one minute.
- Remove from the heat and beat in the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated and smooth.
- Immediately pour over the still hot cake, trying to cover as much of the surface as you can as you pour. The frosting sets up quickly so you may not be able to use a knife to spread it easily.
- Let the frosting set up before serving.
Notes
- center springs back
- toothpick comes out clean
- edges just pulling from the pan
Nutrition
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