Baking: Coffee Gems

                    Coffee Gems

Lately mum and I found my Nanny's gem iron. They are difficult to find now in baking shops, however they are well worth a good hunt around to find one (perhaps in a 2nd hand store).

I love how with this recipe the gem iron delivers a cake which is a little crunchy on the outside but spongy in the middle. They are best eaten within two days of making them, as they are a batter cake. Some recipes do not have baking powder in them, however I find these heavy, personally preferring a little bit of sponginess to them.

This recipe can easily be altered to make ginger gems, by omitting making the syrup and replacing the coffee and water with 4 (level) teaspoons ground ginger and 2 tablespoons golden syrup.

NOTE: the coffee syrup can also be used to jazz up a plain chocolate cake. This idea may be seen in the Superb Chocolate Cake recipe from the New Zealand Treasury of Baking.

Ingredients
3 Teaspoons Instant Coffee
2 Teaspoons Water
1/2 Cup Milk
50g Butter (Melted)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
2 Cups Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Cup Strong Filter Coffee
1 Cup Sugar

1. Heat oven to 200C with gem iron inside.

2. Place coffee and water in a large bowl and mix.

3. Add milk, sugar, vanilla and butter and whisk before adding egg and whisking again.

4. Add flour and baking powder and fold until combined.

5. Take gem iron out of oven and spray with baking spray before dividing the mixture evenly between the dividers (they should be about 3/4 full).

6. Bake for 12 minutes before removing from oven and turning out onto cooling rack. 

7. While gems are baking, make coffee syrup by combining strong coffee with sugar and boiling for 10 minutes, until liquid has reduced. Allow syrup to cool until just warm and pour over gems while on cooling rack.