What is espresso powder?
By chance if your family member or friend is into cooking or baking (in particular) and if they don’t know what instant espresso powder is, or what are its applications, then they’re missing out on a wonderful ingredient and the ways in which it shines. Anyways, no worries, it’s time for you to take the lead and introduce it to them, and show them how it’s gonna bolster the flavors in their recipes!!! Before that, let’s begin with the basics first. When you take roasted and finely ground coffee (most preferred is dark roast), and pass hot water through it, a highly concentrated coffee drink is obtained. That drink is what espresso is. Next, that liquid is further dehydrated, and what you have now is a highly concentrated powder…that powder is what espresso powder is! You can call it a super concentrated powder as it’s jampacked with flavor in it. Just a little dose, and it does the job. This espresso powder is fully soluble in water, thereby also being called as instant espresso powder. You’ll get this powder readily available at stores, or can make it even at home if you’ve got the time.
Espresso powder applications
It’s just wonderful in baking and plays a key role in cooking. Although it can be used to make coffee drinks like a cappuccino or latte at home, yet it’s not used for this. Instead it’s popular in baking and cooking.
It compliments really well with chocolate and is extensively used along with it. It seems coffee-chocolate combination is like the vanilla-chocolate combination, where vanilla does wonders to the chocolate flavor. But, in this case, it’s coffee that does wonders to chocolate. Most-wanted baked goods where espresso powder is used are chocolate cakes and brownies. If you prefer the coffee flavor to be detected in it, then you can use espresso powder generously.
Whereas, if you don’t want the coffee flavor to be detected in your chocolate cakes and/or brownies, then just add it in a small quantity. You’ll be surprised to see that it amplifies the chocolate flavor without contributing any coffee flavor when you taste it.
Along with chocolate cakes and brownies, espresso powder is used for chocolate flavored fudge, desserts, puddings, cookies, ice creams and a lot more!
Espresso powder is also used in a world famous dessert. Wait…Which dessert are we talking about? Well, it’s… Tiramisu!!!
When not in a sweet eating mode, espresso powder can be added to rubs for meat. With the smoky and spicy flavor in these recipes, the dark notes of espresso go very well.
This is just a brief as to where espresso powder plays a key role. A lot more non-chocolate desserts, custards etc also incorporate this.
Espresso powder vs instant coffee
Both are in powdered form, first of all.
Espresso powder is also branded as instant espresso powder by some companies as it’s fully soluble in water. On the other hand, instant coffee (i.e instant coffee powder) is also fully soluble in water. So you may ask, what’s the major difference between these two? Well, here it is…Instant espresso powder is made by dehydrating highly concentrated coffee liquid (i.e espresso) whereas instant coffee is made by dehydrating diluted coffee liquid (i.e filter coffee).
Substitutes for espresso powder
Instant coffee powder can be a substitute for it, but double the quantity or even more of instant coffee has to be used, and in spite of that, it’s not possible to get that deep, dark, rich flavor. Thereby liquid used for it to dissolve will also increase, making your baked goods a bit more liquidy….thereby it’s not recommended. So we would say just stick on to espresso powder itself and if there’s no possibility of getting your hands onto an espresso powder itself, only then do opt for instant coffee.
Another substitute is brewed espresso. If you’ve got an espresso machine at home, then just brew an espresso, and it can be used in place of espresso powder. However, the drawback of this method is that you need to have an espresso machine at home, and need to brew espresso every time your recipes call for it. Not to forget, there will be an increase in the liquid content of your recipe too, so you need to take that into consideration here as well, and adjust the dry and wet ingredients in what you’re making. You can dehydrate it and later use it, as this would’ve become espresso powder itself. But, who’s got the time for all this?
There’s a third substitute as well. That’s regular brewed coffee. But, be sure that even after adding it in large quantities, the flavor won’t be that strong and rich, on the flip side your recipes are gonna turn watery as well. So, this is the least preferred substitute. This also can be dehydrated and used, but then it’s as if we’re choosing the most difficult route.
Espresso powder vs ground espresso
Instant Espresso powder as it’s mentioned before, is obtained by dehydrating highly concentrated coffee (i.e espresso). On the other hand, ground espresso is nothing but roast and ground coffee which is suitable to be used for brewing espresso or even other types of brewed coffee. Ground espresso is not fully soluble in water and needs equipment to make coffee out of it or for further usage, unlike instant espresso powder which completely dissolves in water, and doesn’t need any equipment as that’s already done before.
Best Espresso powder for baking
There are quite a number of instant espresso powders in the market. But we’ll be listing out 2 of the most popular ones. One is King Arthur Espresso powder and the other one is delallo espresso powder.
Homemade espresso powder – It’s a time consuming process, so we wouldn’t suggest this in this time and age. However if you still wish to do it all by yourself, then check this out.
-Does espresso powder have caffeine
Any coffee product, unless it’s decaffeinated, has caffeine in it. Just like how there’s plenty of caffeine in espresso, there’s plenty of caffeine in instant espresso powder too. For a 2g serving of espresso powder, caffeine present is around 35mg. But since just a small quantity is generally used in recipes, caffeine intake is not a matter of concern, usually.