Baking With Coffee: 6 Delicious Ideas for Coffee-Infused Treats

Every chef needs a few coffee dessert ideas in their repertoire! Whether you’re looking to add new flavors to your bakery’s menu or you simply enjoy indulging your sweet tooth at home, we’re here to help you explore the culinary magic of coffee-infused confections.

How to Choose the Right Type of Coffee

The taste of coffee is strong and distinct, yet it also has subtle complexities. Choosing the appropriate coffee for your dishes significantly impacts the overall taste experience by blending well with other ingredients. The objective is to have the coffee enhance the components and blend them in perfect resonance, while also infusing that familiar and cherished coffee taste.

Baking with coffee is very similar to consuming it. Various factors such as roast levels, origins, types, and many others can impact the flavor of the final cup of coffee, and the same holds true for baked goods.

A light roast usually has a more acidic taste with herbal, floral, and fruity notes, while a dark roast has a richer flavor with hints of nuts and chocolate. A medium roast typically falls in the center range. Naturally, those are simply overall flavor descriptions, therefore carefully assess the coffee selection in each specific recipe.

Furthermore, the coffee’s origin will play a role in its flavor profile. Say you’re baking with coffee from Nicaragua, which is often mild and bright with fruity, citrus, and floral notes. It would be a perfect fit for delicate fruit desserts that just need a hint of coffee flavor. On the other hand, a dark, full-bodied, smoky Indonesian coffee could add depth and richness to chocolate desserts.

As you brainstorm coffee dessert ideas, remember that quality matters. Not only will high-quality, sustainable coffee deliver better flavors and aromas, but they’ll also enhance the ethical value of the dish. That’s a win for everyone!

How to Choose the Right Form of Coffee

In addition to matching the coffee’s natural profile to your recipe, baking with coffee requires that you use the coffee in its ideal form. There are many techniques you can use, and you may need to do some experimenting to find the approach that best fits each recipe. Here are some of the most common methods:

• Substituting brewed coffee for other liquids
• Adding finely ground beans or espresso powder to dry ingredients, such as spice blends or sugar
• Infusing liquids like simple syrup, milk, cream, or melted butter by low-boiling them with beans or soaking them with beans overnight
• Dipping or steeping dough or batter in brewed coffee before baking

What Are the Best Coffee Dessert Ideas?

Baking with coffee is perfect for cakes, pies and crusts, cookies, brownies, and biscottis. Coffee is also an excellent ingredient in ice creams and gelatos.

Here are some tips to help you start your java journey on the right foot.

1. Cakes

Cake and coffee are a match made in heaven. Coffee in cake takes the duo to the next level. While infusing your cake batter with coffee flavors is a great start—coffee cheesecake is especially divine—sometimes you don’t want the entire cake to taste like coffee. Even if you adore the taste and scent, baking with coffee requires discretion—a little goes a long way!

Consider putting a twist on the classic chocolate ganache by adding a splash of coffee to the cream. The coffee will bring out the chocolatey essence without being overpowering. You could also infuse a glaze with coffee essence by adding whole beans when you heat the milk, butter, and sugar (remove the beans at the end). For a more pronounced flavor, you could use coffee as the liquid base (or just add a splash).

2. Pies & Crusts

Coffee can be the focal point of a pie—a coffee custard pie, for example—but it can also be used to add depth to your crust. When baking with coffee in your crust, think about the contextual ingredients. 

An apple or pecan pie would work beautifully with a coffee-infused crust. On the other hand, a bright, acidic key lime or lemon meringue pie may be muffled by the darkness and richness of coffee.

3. Cookies

Cookies are a great entry point for anyone looking for coffee dessert ideas. You can make a small test batch so you don’t waste ingredients during the experimentation process. And, cookies can handle coffee in many forms. 

You could add liquid coffee to the dough to give the cookies a coffee-centric flavor throughout. Or, you could try baking with coffee beans (finely ground) for flavor, texture, and visual appeal. As long as you use finely ground coffee beans in moderation, they should soften nicely in the oven.

Besides using coffee in your dough, you can use it to make delicious fillings or drizzles. Add it to a classic vanilla cream filling or peanut butter filling. Or, you could drizzle a coffee glaze on top of the cookies to add subtle coffee goodness while keeping the cookie’s original flavor intact.

4. Ice Cream & Gelato

Iced coffee is a beloved beverage for a reason! Coffee ice creams and gelatos offer a similar multisensory experience, but kicked up a notch. Making frozen treats is just like baking with coffee. You can add it to the base to create a full-fledged coffee dessert, or you can use it to make a decadent topping.

5. Brownies & Chocolate Frosting

When it comes to coffee dessert ideas, it’s tough to go wrong with pairing chocolate! Coffee is the perfect pairing, bringing out chocolate’s rich, robust notes without overpowering the traditional flavors chocolate aficionados crave. Of course, adding more coffee will bring out the coffee flavor more, but you might be surprised by how the coffee taste fades into the background.

6. Biscottis

Biscottis are the classic coffee companions that bring a satisfying crunch with every dip. Naturally, baking with coffee is a wonderful way to create biscottis that elevate the quintessential cafe experience, tying beverage and accompaniment together in perfect harmony.

El Salvador coffee is an excellent choice for biscottis with dried fruits or nuts, as its flavor profile tends to be soft, mellow, and sweet with fruity and nutty notes. A bold Brazilian stout coffee would be so tasty in a chocolate biscotti. For a pleasant middle ground, consider a coffee from Zambia—they tend to be balanced and not overly complex.

Experience the Difference With Farm-to-Cup Coffee

Ebru Coffee is a producer, roaster, and retailer of sustainable, specialty coffee beans. Our mission is to share our passion for the culture and community that makes coffee so special all around the globe.

Whether you’re brewing your morning fuel or baking with coffee, you can look forward to a truly exceptional experience. Explore our single-origin coffees. Your coffee dessert ideas deserve the best. Shop handpicked coffee now to discover your new go-to secret ingredient!