Can I Use Finely Ground Coffee Granules Instead Of Instant Espresso Powder For The Chocolate Cake With Coffee Buttercream?

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Cake With Coffee Buttercream (from AT MY TABLE) is an easy mix together sponge that is sandwiched with a coffee-flavoured buttercream. The instant espresso powder used is the very fine instant powder, that can be used for baking or as an instant coffee, such as the Nescafé brand. We like to bake with this as it mixes easily with the other ingredients without being grainy.

We have not tried grinding espresso granules, though if they dissolve easily we suspect this may work. However, for the cake you could dissolve the espresso granules in the hot water used for the cake batter, and for the buttercream the powder is also dissolved in a small amount of hot water. So you could just use the granules and dissolve them, without needing to grind them. For espresso powder 1 teaspoon is usually equivalent to 1 cup of espresso (50mls), so for the granules use as much as you would need to make 2 espressos and for the buttercream as much as you would need for 2½ espressos.