Description

Coffee cake is a sponge cake flavouredwithcoffee. The term can also be applied to a cake that is intendedtobe eaten with coffee or tea (like tea cake), offered to guests asagesture of hospitality, or served as a brunch food.[2][3] Itisleavened with either baking soda (or baking powder), whichresultsin a more cake-like texture, or yeast, which results in amorebread-like texture.

Coffee cakes are generally round and consist of twolayersseparated by coffee flavoured butter icing, which also coversthetop of the cake. Walnuts are a common addition tocoffeecakes
Amish friendship bread – has characteristics of both pound cakeandcoffee cake
Gooey butter cake – generally served as a type of coffee cakeandnot as a formal dessert cake
Gugelhupf – sometimes eaten with coffee, during coffee breaks
Tiramisu – a popular coffee-flavored Italian dessert

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffeebeans,which are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant. ThegenusCoffea is native to tropical Africa, Madagascar, and theComoros,Mauritius and Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The plant wasexportedfrom Africa to countries around the world and coffee plantsare nowcultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in theequatorialregions of the Americas, Southeast Asia, India, andAfrica. The twomost commonly grown are the highly regarded arabica,and the lesssophisticated but stronger and more hardy robusta. Onceripe,coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. Dried coffeeseeds(referred to as beans) are roasted to varying degrees,depending onthe desired flavor. Roasted beans are ground and brewedwith nearboiling water to produce coffee as a beverage.

Coffee is slightly acidic and can have a stimulating effectonhumans because of its caffeine content. Coffee is one of themostpopular drinks in the world. It can be prepared and presentedin avariety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, cafe latte,etc.).It is usually served hot, although iced coffee is alsoserved.Clinical studies indicate that moderate coffee consumptionisbenign or mildly beneficial in healthy adults, withcontinuingresearch on whether long-term consumption inhibitscognitivedecline during aging or lowers the risk of some formsofcancer.

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears inthemiddle of the 15th century in the Sufi shrines of Yemen.It washerein Arabia that coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed inasimilar way to how it is now prepared. Coffee seeds werefirstexported from Eastern Africa to Yemen, as the coffee plantisthought to have been indigenous to the former. Yemeni traderstookcoffee back to their homeland and began to cultivate the seed.Bythe 16th century, it had reached the rest of the MiddleEast,Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. From there, it spreadtoEurope and the rest of the world.

Coffee is a major export commodity: it is the topagriculturalexport for numerous countries and is among the world'slargestlegal agricultural exports. It is one of the mostvaluablecommodities exported by developing countries. Green(unroasted)coffee is one of the most traded agriculturalcommodities in theworld.[9] Some controversy is associated withcoffee cultivationand the way developed countries trade withdeveloping nations andthe impact of its cultivation on theenvironment, in regards toclearing of land for coffee-growing andwater use. Consequently,fair trade coffee and organic coffee are anexpanding market