Baileys-Coffee Bread

I really enjoy any type of sweet bread (Trockenkuchen), marble bread, lemon bread, hazelnut bread - you name it. Actually, my favorite birthday cake has always been marble bread, and I can recall the recipe from memory.

For most breads I use a basic recipe that gets just a little altered and adjusted for some of the additions. The core of the recipe is a 1:1:2 ratio of butter:sugar:flour, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking powder and some milk. With this basic recipe you can make anything, the only limitation being your creativity.

When I was recently asked to bring a cake to a drink potluck I had the idea to use Baileys Irish Cream liquor in that cake as my "drink contribution". I had made Baileys muffins in the past, but never a bread, so I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out. However, it was so good I decided to make it again for this blog. In addition to Baileys I also added instant coffee, ground walnuts and chocolate chips. All these ingredients blend very well, the chocolate cuts a little of the coffee taste, and the walnuts and Baileys contribute to a well-rounded aroma.

Ingredients:

one Pyrex form (9x5 inches) (Kastenform 22x13 cm)

some grease

100 g butter or margarine

100 g sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons instant coffee

50 g ground nuts (walnuts or hazelnuts)

200 g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons Baileys Irish liquor (or milk)

some chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Topping

some confectioner's sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 degrees Celsius). Grease baking pan.

2. Beat butter or margarine with an electric hand mixer until soft and creamy. In three portions add sugar, mixing until the sugar is well blended. Mix in eggs, one at a time, for about 1/2 minute per egg. Add instant coffee and ground nuts, and mix well.

3. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. In four portions add flour-baking powder mixture to batter and mix well, add Baileys or milk. The dough has to fall heavily from a spoon. If the dough is too moist, it'll run off the spoon, if the dough is not moist enough, it won't fall down at all. Two tablespoons of liquid should be just right, but depending on the type of flour used more or less liquid might be needed.

4. Lastly, add chocolate chips, mix briefly, and pour batter into greased baking pan.

5. Bake at 350 F until toothpick comes out clean (about 50 min). Remove cake from oven, let cool for a few minutes, then remove cake from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

6. Sift some confectioner's sugar on top and serve.