Time: 40 minuti
Difficulty: facile

A perfect cake, but best eaten while still warm to savor the aroma of coffee!

Characteristics: Instant coffee, also commonly called instant or powdered coffee, is a mixture of roasted coffee beans mixed with water or hot milk. Stirring creates the final beverage.

Unlike other methods, in which raw coffee is roasted, ground, and then extracted, instant coffee is obtained through more complex industrial processes, including freeze-drying and atomization.
Historical notes: The ancestor of instant coffee was created for the army during the American Civil War and consisted of a concentrated mixture of coffee, milk, and sugar, combined with hot water. The consistency of the brick resembled grease... hence, it may not have been well-liked among the troops.
The first true instant coffee was patented in 1881 by Frenchman Alphonse Allais.
Note: As we all know, making instant coffee is really very simple: just dissolve a certain amount of granules in hot water or milk and stir.
Just a small tip: it's best to use bottled or filtered water.
This is because water, as you might imagine, is a fundamental component of the final beverage, and, as with all coffees, if you use treated water or water that's too high in mineral salts, the flavor of the brewed coffee will be more bitter and less pleasant.

Ingredients for 6 people

250 g Molino Dalla Giovanna cake and cookie mix
150 g fine rice flour
140 g sugar
100 g butter
100 g corn oil
5 g instant coffee
150 ml milk
12 g gluten-free baking powder
2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
Filled with Nutella
Gluten-free powdered sugar

Method

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the whole eggs and egg whites, sugar, and ground coffee. Beat the mixture on high speed for about 4-5 minutes, until it forms smooth, fluffy peaks.
Continue mixing gently for another 4 minutes, gradually adding the milk, oil, and previously melted butter, making sure to pour it in slowly once it is lukewarm.
At this point, take the bowl of a stand mixer and mix by hand with a spatula, sift the mixture and rice flour, add the baking powder and mix until smooth.
Once you've finished adding these ingredients, pour the mixture into a 24 cm deep baking pan, either greased and floured or lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a convection oven at 190°C (375°F) for about 20-25 minutes, then turn off the oven and open the door, leaving the sponge cake to cool in the oven for at least 10 minutes.
Remove the coffee cake from the pan; once completely cooled, it's ready to be filled.

​​​​​Slice the cake in half with a serrated knife, fill with Nutella, cover the reserved half of the cake, and dust with powdered sugar using a flower-shaped mold.