Here is my coffee and cocoa mini cake baked in an air fryer, a simple little donut ready to eat in just half an hour, including baking. Without eggs, made only with flour, coffee, and kefir (or yogurt or ricotta), just a mix with a fork, and into the fryer it goes.

A mini cake that comes exactly from the coffee and cocoa mini donuts that have been a hit in our home for years and many of you have told me you replicated them (thank you!). These donuts were my first test when I got the new air fryer. They turned out perfectly right away, baked perfectly using silicone molds, and even with regular parchment paper.

Later (as you surely know if you’ve seen the recipe for the sweet focaccia) I discovered the existence of parchment paper specifically for air fryers, the so-called paper baskets.

I must confess that at first I kind of scoffed at this new parchment paper, because I was convinced that regular parchment paper would work just as well, but I had to change my mind. These ‘baskets’ have revolutionized my way of considering and using the air fryer! Now I continually bake focaccias and mini cakes with the fryer that no longer stick to the paper.

Yes, the diminutive is right, they are mini cakes because my air fryer is a 2.5 liter. Small, but the perfect size for two people.

Are you ready to try this recipe right away? 😊

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coffee and cocoa mini cake baked in air fryer

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: slices: 8
Cooking methods: Air Frying
Cuisine: Contemporary
Seasonality: All seasons

282.07 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 282.07 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 44.39 (g) of which sugars 17.29 (g)
Proteins 6.53 (g)
Fat 8.85 (g) of which saturated 1.09 (g)of which unsaturated 4.58 (g)
Fibers 9.98 (g)
Sodium 7.21 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 75 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
150 g coffee
0.6 cups sugar
0.5 cups milk kefir
3 tbsp corn oil (or sunflower)
0.33 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder

Tools

Air Fryer
Air Fryer Parchment Paper
Bowl

Steps

Pour the coffee (not hot), kefir, oil, sugar, flour, and baking powder into a bowl.
👉 If you don’t have kefir (I’m always referring to homemade kefir), you can use yogurt. Alternatively, ricotta softened with a tablespoon of milk works as well.
Add the unsweetened cocoa.
👉 If necessary, sift the cocoa (a simple sieve is enough).
Mix well with a spoon or spatula to obtain a smooth batter.
Place a paper basket in the air fryer basket.
Pour the batter into the paper basket.
Start the air fryer at 392°F setting it for 16 minutes.
👉 The first minute will be for preheating, the other 15 minutes for baking.
Check the baking of the cake base by removing it from the paper basket and flipping it.
👉 As I explained in my two recipes dedicated to tarts baked in an air fryer (here the first recipe and here the updated version), baking at the bottom of the basket sometimes, with some types of air fryers, requires some attention. For this coffee and cocoa mini cake, I never had baking issues using the specific paper baskets for air fryers.
Let the coffee and cocoa mini cake cool on a rack.
The great thing about air fryers is that they are immediate, you close the basket, turn it on, and after just over a quarter of an hour breakfast is ready (with a few minutes, of course, to let the mini cake cool down a bit).
And then, this coffee and cocoa mini cake is also great stuffed!
No, I don’t have a photo of the stuffed version, but… look at the slice in the next photo, imagine it cut in half and filled with whipped cream, then covered with cream or a chocolate ganache.
Got it? Now I’m sure you’re also imagining how delicious it is! 😃😋
Enjoy!