Name: Hawaij Spiced Coffee Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 2 Tablespoons of cardamom seeds (roughly ground); 3 Tablespoons ground ginger; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves; 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg; 12 Tablespoons 3/4 c. butter, softened; 3/4 c. sugar; 3 eggs; 1 1/3 c. flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 1/2 Tablespoons espresso powder; 1 Tablespoon hot water; 1/2 c. cream cheese (softened); 1/4 c. butter (softened); 1 c. powdered sugar; 2 teaspoons espresso powder; 1/2 c. heavy cream

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Hawaij Spiced Coffee Cake is a combination of sweet and savory spices mixed in a traditional coffee cake that is topped off with a coffee flavored cream cheese frosting.

I’m not a huge breakfast eater. Whenever I do decide to eat breakfast it’s either something simple like toast or it’s a sweet like french toast, pancakes, or baked donuts.

One of my favorite sweet breakfast recipes is coffee cake. I’ve made so many different flavors of coffee cake and I just can’t stop! I’m happy to keep on making more.

I found a recipe for Hawaij Spiced Coffee Cake that was really unique. The spice mixture itself was different and the cake had just a few simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

cardamom seeds
ground ginger
cinnamon
ground cloves
ground nutmeg
butter
sugar
eggs
flour
baking powder
salt
espresso powder
cream cheese
powdered sugar
heavy cream

To Make the Spice Mixture: Combine all the spices in a small bowl and set aside. You only need a tablespoon of the spice mixture so you can store the rest in a zip top baggie or a small jar.

To Make the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray and 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs and mix well. Stir in the flour, hawaij spice, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Combine espresso powder and hot water then pour into the bowl. Mix well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.

To make the topping: Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl. Add in the espresso powder and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. Add in the heavy cream and beat until desired consistency is reached.

The recipe for this spice mixture makes more than you need for this recipe but you can store it in a small container for up to 3 months. It’s delicious in baked goods and if you add in cumin and black pepper you can use it in cooking as well.

The cake is super easy to make so I whipped it up while my son was playing cars in the kitchen and put it into the oven. Once it came out I made an easy espresso flavored cream cheese frosting to go on top.

What is Hawaij spice?

Hawaij literally means “mixture” in Arabic. It’s a spice mixture that can be used in both sweet and savory dishes which makes it extremely versatile. While the spices may vary slightly, the mixture is usually some combination of cumin, black pepper, cardamom, coriander, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. The ingredients vary based on what you are making with the spice mixture.

Do I have to put the frosting on top?

No you don’t! However, this is not your traditional coffee cake. It is a little denser cake that doesn’t have a crumble topping on it so using the frosting on top really works. If you don’t want to use the cream cheese you can substitute mascarpone cheese for an even lighter topping.

I don’t like espresso or coffee, can I still make this?

You certainly can. Just leave the espresso powder out of the cake. It will change the flavor slightly but if you don’t like espresso you won’t miss it. As for the frosting, instead of using espresso powder and coffee flavored liqueur I would use 2 teaspoons of vanilla and a half teaspoon of either the spice mixture or just plain cinnamon.

I can’t find cardamom seeds, can I substitute ground cardamom?

Yes you can! While the seeds will yield a stronger flavor you can use 1 Tablespoon of ground cardamom in place of the ground seeds to give the spice mixture a similar flavor.

I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor of this coffee cake. It was definitely different from most coffee cakes I’ve had. While it was full of spices then cake was more dense then I’m used too.

The frosting was also different but really enjoyable. It was sweet, creamy, and lightly coffee flavored. Since I always have a cup of coffee with my breakfast this coffee cake paired so well with it in the morning.

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