This no-oven Nescafe cake combines a light coffee batter with saffron layers and a fine dusting of cocoa between them. It cooks inside a covered pot on the stovetop, using a trivet to keep the cake tin away from direct heat.

Unfrosted stovetop cake with Nescafe coffee and saffron batter layers
A no-oven Nescafe cake with saffron layers, cooked in a covered pot

Ingredients

  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ⅓ cup neutral oil
  • 1 cup boiling water or milk
  • 1 tablespoon instant Nescafe coffee
  • 2 tablespoons brewed saffron
  • Cocoa powder, as needed for the layers
  • 1 extra tablespoon sugar only if dissolving the coffee in water, optional

Prepare the pot and batter

Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water or milk. If using water, add the optional spoonful of sugar; this is separate from the cup listed for the batter. Let the coffee mixture cool completely.

Grease and flour a cake tin that fits comfortably inside a heavy lidded pot. Put a sturdy metal trivet in the pot, cover it and preheat over the lowest flame for about 10 minutes. The tin must sit on the trivet, not directly on the hot base.

Sift the flour and baking powder together. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, one cup of sugar and vanilla on high speed for about seven minutes, until pale and voluminous. Mix in the cooled coffee for one minute, followed by the oil.

Fold in the flour mixture in two or three additions. Use a spatula or the mixer on its lowest setting only until no dry streaks remain; prolonged high-speed mixing at this stage knocks out the air and develops a tough crumb.

Create the coffee and saffron layers

Divide the batter evenly. Leave one half as the Nescafe batter and fold the brewed saffron into the other. The inherited instruction to add coffee again after dividing is redundant because the cooled coffee is already in the base mixture.

Pour a thin coffee layer into the prepared tin and dust it lightly with cocoa through a small sieve. Add a saffron layer and dust again. Continue until the batter is used, keeping the cocoa fine enough that the layers still bond during cooking.

Cook the cake without an oven

  1. Set the tin on the hot trivet and cover the pot tightly.
  2. Cook over very low heat, preferably over a heat diffuser, for about 50 minutes.
  3. Do not lift the lid during the first 40 minutes. After that, check the centre with a wooden skewer; it should come out without wet batter.
  4. Turn off the heat and leave the covered cake in the pot for 15 minutes.
  5. Remove the tin with oven gloves, cool it on a rack, then release the cake only after the sides have set.

Keep towels, cloths and loose paper away from the burner. If the base browns before the centre sets, the flame is too strong or the trivet is too short.

Serving and troubleshooting

  • Dense cake: the egg foam was under-whipped or the flour was mixed too aggressively.
  • Wet centre: continue cooking in five-minute intervals on the lowest heat.
  • Burnt base: use a heavier pot, taller trivet or heat diffuser.
  • Layers separate: use less cocoa between them and pour the next batter layer gently.

Let the cake cool before slicing so the saffron and coffee bands stay clear. Serve it plain with tea or coffee; it already has enough flavour and sweetness without a heavy frosting.