Cooking with Karajoz

Recently I was sent a couple of bags of Karajoz coffee, which just happens to be one of my favourite brands.  So already in this story I am well ahead.  I was asked to share a recipe or two using these beans, and while baking may not be my strongest suit, I was totally up for the challenge.  Especially because it entailed three silvery packages of beautiful smelling beans.  In fact, hold that thought while I go and sniff those packets.

Okay now.  I pretty much knew straight away what I would make.  And I knew also, that I would be attempting two sugar-free recipes.  I have recently become mostly-(cane)sugar-free for the second or third time round (it really is a hard habit to kick!), and I'm loving having a little bit more energy already!  I didn't want to undo all my hard work by creating some delicious food that would tip me off the wagon again, so I went out and purchased some 100% Maple Syrup specifically to make these food items.

Coffee cake seemed like an obvious first choice, with the added challenge of finding a sugar-free icing recipe as well.  The cake I made was quite dense (which I love), but I've adjusted the quantity for the liquids so if you give this recipe a go, it should be lighter.  I used this recipe as a base and adapted it to suit my ingredients.  Fyi, this is the easiest cake to make, in the entire of the universe and beyond.

Sugar-free Coffee Cake:

Ingredients:

1 Cup Self Raising flour (I used Spelt flour and added Baking Powder to the ingredients)
1/4 Cup of strong black coffee (In my case Karajoz Organica)
100g softened butter
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup of 100% Maple Syrup or other sugar substitute

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Place all of your ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.  Grease your cake tin (or muffin trays) and add mixture.  Bang them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

I iced my cake using this simple sugar-free recipe, and it was pretty yum, though I burnt the honey a teensy bit, and also I don't have an electric beater so it took for.ever to whip that egg white.  And maybe I still didn't whip it long enough.  But anyways, the combination was kindof amazing.

This second recipe (using that term loosely here) is the perfect compliment to your sugar-free cake.  I have a total weakness for coffee frappes, which are off the list now that I'm attempting sugar-free.  So I made my own, and it was pretty good.

Iced Coffee:

Make yourself a cup of black plunger coffee, and resist drinking any of it (hard, I know).  Leave it to cool on your bench.  Fill a cup with a mixture of milk (your preference) and ice (quantity - your preference).  Add that, and 2 Tsps of maple syrup to your smoothie maker.  When your coffee has cooled, pop that in too, and then mix to your hearts content!

I used Almond milk purely because that's what we had more of in our fridge, and this drink is pretty milk-heavy.  If I had any, I would've used full-cream milk in a FLASH!  I love creamy iced coffees, and this was a teensy bit watery (thanks Un-sweetened Almond milk - Gee I wonder why we had such a large quantity of this sitting dormant and unwanted in our pantry).  Still loved it, and the combination of maple and coffee was a winner for me!

Do you have a favourite coffee flavoured recipe?  If you do, please leave a link in the comments so that others can find it.  I must say, baking with real coffee was fun, and much easier than I anticipated.  Huge thank you to Karajoz for providing the yummy ingredients (that are filling my coffee mug as we speak).