Cappuccino Squares

I love coffee-flavoured things. Chocolates with a coffee centre are amazing, and I go crazy for coffee-flavoured ice cream. If you, like me, love coffee flavours then you’ll love this traybake recipe, which came from a Caithness SWRI recipe book.

Cappuccino Squares are easy to make, and they are delicious and moist, not too sweet, and have just a subtle taste of coffee.

Cappuccino Squares are easy to make, and they are delicious and moist, not too sweet, and have just a subtle taste of coffee.

Ingredients

• 225g butter
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cocoa
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons instant coffee
• 2 tablespoons hot water

• 115g white chocolate
• 55g butter
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 175g icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180° C.
2. Grease and line a shallow 28cm x 18 cm tin with baking paper.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl. Add the caster sugar.
4. Beat the eggs, melt the butter (a minute in the microwave did the job) and dissolve the 3 tablespoons of coffee in 2 tablespoons of hot water.

5. Mix it all together until the mixture is smooth.
6. Then spoon the mixture evenly into the tin and smooth the top.

7. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until risen and firm.
8. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely.

9. Then, to make the frosting, break the chocolate into pieces.
10. Then melt the chocolate, butter and milk together in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir so the mixture is smooth. (Melting the chocolate and butter can also be done carefully in a microwave, 30 seconds at a time.)
11. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and sift in the icing sugar.
12. Beat until smooth (we used an electric whisk), then spread over the cake.

13. Dust the top with a teaspoon of sieved cocoa powder.
14. Cut into squares.

TIP – Be careful and only sieve a very small amount of cocoa powder at the end – I had a disaster with my first batch – and covered the bake (and half the kitchen) with cocoa!

By Magnus Dixon
Orkney and Shetland enthusiast, family man, loves walks, likes animals, terrible at sports, dire taste in music, adores audiobooks and films, eats a little too much for his own good.

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