Guava Cake and Coffee

Updated: Oct 7, 2020

This guava cake is like taking a bite of some of my favorite childhood flavors in one go. The bitter coffee notes complement the sweet, gooey guava paste so amazingly, you will not want to put this cake down. I suggest kicking back with a cafecito for the best satisfaction.

Ok... so I'm giving you all fair warning with this one. If you bake this, make sure you have people around who can eat with you or else you will demolish this whole cake alone. Thankfully I have surrounded myself with the world's best taste testers during quarantine who have probably been gaining my #quarantine15 for me.

This cake is the perfect blend between sweet and bitter. If you have never had guava before... get ready to have your mind blown. This cake uses "Goya" Guava Paste, and as their slogan suggests, if it's "Goya, it has to be good" #brandsponsorgoals #goya #amitryingtoohard

Since moving to the States 8 years ago, it's actually been really hard to come across fresh guava fruit at the grocery store. However, this cake does really well with the paste and almost keeps the cake extra moist as the days go by. This little beauty will last you a full week easily as long as you wrap it up after it's completely cool and the icing has set. I honestly doubt you'll have it for a full week before you devour it. Tag me @masamamafood if you make it!

Kitchen equipment you will need:

Loaf Pan*

2 Large mixing bowls

Small plate or bowl to melt butter

Whisk

Measuring Cups or a Digital Scale

Measuring Spoons

Sieve (optional)

Electric Mixer (optional for icing)

Piping bag and decorative tip (optional for icing)

*(I have this one from #amazon but any loaf pan should be fine. If you don't have a loaf pan, then use a standard 9" cake tin or any other rectangular mold you may have, but please keep in mind that baking times will change. Also - Loaf pans are dope, so get yourself a loaf pan - it's called #adulting)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 stick (113g) Melted Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup (140g) Sour Cream (none of that reduced fat bulls**t - just exercise later...trust me)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (290g) White Granulated Sugar
2 tablespoons Hot Water
1 tablespoon Instant Coffee (or 2 tablespoons of very strong brewed espresso and skip the Hot Water)
1 1/2 cups (238g) All Purpose Flour (preferably unbleached - but bleached will work as well)
1/2 teaspoon Salt (If you have iodized salt... stop. Get yourself real salt.)
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
Half a container of Guava Paste

For the Coffee Icing:

5 1/2 tablespoons (75g) Softened Unsalted Butter
2 cups (225g) Confectioners' Sugar
1 tablespoon of Hot Water
1 tablespoons of Instant Coffee (or 1 tablespoon of very strong brewed espresso and skip the Hot Water)

Ok. Let's GO.

RECIPE LEVEL: For the Baking Newbies

HANDS-ON TIME: 10 - 15 minutes

WAITING TIME: 0

BAKING TIME: 1 hour and 15 minutes (depends on oven and baking tin selected)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Prepare loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper or by greasing it liberally with butter and coating it in flour. Don't skip this step unless you want to eat your cake with a spoon out of the pan later. You won't be able to get it out. (Honestly, eating it with a spoon sounds kinda good...)

3. Take half of the container of guava paste and cut strips that are about 1/4" wide. Then take these strips and cut into uneven chunks. Chunky is good. We like guava chunks. But don't leave them too big or they'll sink to the bottom of the cake.

4. Melt butter in microwave completely.

5. Mix hot water with instant coffee and give it a swirl until all the coffee granules are dissolved. Set aside.

6. Take melted butter and add to large mixing bowl along with the sour cream. Give it a good whisk until they are both incorporated fully.

7. Add eggs one by one until they are just incorporated. DO NOT over mix. Don't be that person who over beats eggs. Over beating eggs in a mix like this leads to a tough cake. Boo.

8. Add sugar and the dissolved coffee into the batter and mix. That's all your wet ingredients done.

9. If you have a sieve, place it on top of the mixing bowl and add the flour, salt and baking powder. Sieve all dry ingredients and mix batter. If you don't have a sieve, don't worry about it. Just place all dry ingredients into the batter. You may want to do this in stages so that you don't end up spilling flour all over the place.

10. Grab a mixing spoon and add all the guava chunks. (Using a whisk for this part is not great) Mix well until all the guava pieces look like they are completely covered in batter.

11. Transfer mix to prepared loaf pan. Make sure it is level before you place it in the oven to bake.

12. Bake for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Check after 50 minutes just in case it is browning quicker than intended. If you are baking in something other than a loaf pan, then check after 30 minutes just in case. Try to not open the oven door too much. This cake needs a slow bake and enough time to rise.

13. Once the cake is done, take out of the oven and place on a wire rack or heat resistant surface to cool. When it is completely cool, take out of the loaf pan. Look at it - stand in awe of it - smell it - so good and almost done!

14. Make the coffee icing by first dissolving the instant coffee with the hot water. Take the softened butter and place in the large bowl along with the dissolved coffee (you can soften the butter in the microwave because who has time to wait for butter to get up to room temp... #notme.)

15. Add the Confectioners' Sugar to the bowl sloooowly unless you want it to snow in your kitchen. This should make a very stiff, pipeable icing. Fill a piping bag and begin to decorate the top of the cake or take a knife/spoon and slather the icing all over the top. Y.U.M.

16. Brew some coffee, kick back and enjoy!