Ingredients

Cake

• 250g butter (at room temperature)
• 250g sugar
• 4 eggs
• 250g self raising flour
• 1 tbsp freshly ground coffee
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Icing

• 200g butter
• 250g icing sugar
• 1 tsp freshly made coffee (cooled)

Method

1. Cake: Preheat an oven to 180°C. Grease a loaf tin with butter. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat them together until they are light and creamy. Whisk the eggs in one at a time until they are well combined. Gradually add the sieved flour a third at a time, until each third is well incorporated. Finally mix in the coffee and vanilla essence and mix them in well. Evenly spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and place the cake on the centre shelf in the preheated oven. Bake the cake for 45 minutes until it is well risen and firm to touch (to test if it is ready insert a skewer into the centre; it should come out dry). When the cake is cooked, turn it out on a cake rack and leave it to cool.
2. Icing: Beat together the butter, icing sugar and coffee to a smooth spreadable icing.
3. To Assemble: When the cake has cooled spread the coffee icing evenly over the top. Serve the cake on its own or accompanied with cream or ice-cream. Store the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve.