Recipe: Coffee Loaf Cake with Special Coffee Frosting

COFFEE LOAF CAKE WITH SPECIAL COFFEE FROSTING

"Mrs. Hooker's special Christmas treat. Major General Joseph Hooker was aptly called Fightin' Joe as a result of his many daring exploits on the battlefield during the Civil War."

3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup strong black coffee, cold
4 eggs
Special Coffee Frosting (recipe follows)
2 cups chopped walnuts (for topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour a large (9x5-inch) loaf pan.

Put butter and brown sugar in a large wooden mixing bowl. Beat together until they are nicely creamed. Stir in melted chocolate.

Sift together in a separate mixing bowl the flour, baking powder, mace, cinnamon, and salt. Stir this in with ingredients in first bowl, alternately, with cold coffee. Drop in eggs, one at a time, beating each in thoroughly. Set aside momentarily. Put mixture in prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F about 50 minutes. When done, let cake cool in pan.

Turn cooled cake out on plate. Spread Special Coffee Frosting liberally on top and sides of cake. Sprinkle top of cake thickly with chopped walnuts.

SPECIAL COFFEE FROSTING

1 cup very strong black coffee
1 tablespoon vanilla
Powdered sugar, as required (about 1 pound)

Put cold black coffee and vanilla in a wooden mixing bowl. Beat in powdered sugar until mixture becomes stiff enough to spread.

Source: Best of the Best from Tennessee by Gwen McKee, Barbara Moseley and Tupper England