Make your own Espresso Powder for baking with this easy recipe! A secret ingredient of many professional bakers, it’s amazing in so many recipes and treats!
Today, I’m sharing that one special ingredient that intensifies the chocolate flavor in your baking for the best chocolate cakes, fudge brownies, brownie cookies, (and any other chocolate baked goods!).
Imagine everyone drooling over that chocolate cake topped with chocolate buttercream frosting that everyone requests for their birthday, anniversary, or any other special occasion.
Well, I shared that cake and frosting with you many, many years ago, and I even shared the one secret ingredient that I think takes that cake to the next level of deliciousness – espresso powder!
Now, let’s learn how to make it at home!
Espresso Powder Recipe
Many of you have asked me where to find espresso powder over the years. You can purchase it online at many bakery supply stores, Amazon, and grocery stores. I’ve seen it in my local Publix and Kroger grocery stores recently. But I still want the absolute best – and I can make it myself!
Friends, this super simple recipe is one that once you make your own, you’ll want to make sure to have a supply of it at all times!
What Do You Need to Make Homemade Espresso Powder for Baking
You only need a few items to make homemade espresso powder for baking.
- Espresso beans
- Baking Sheet
- Coffee or spice grinder
- Airtight spice container
Espresso Beans
I prefer to use organic, medium roast espresso beans for my espresso beans. I love picking up a small bag of locally roasted beans from my local CSA or farmer’s co-op, but your local grocery store may also have a good selection. I’ve also found a few brands I’ve enjoyed online, such as Jo Espresso and Kicking Horse Cliff Hanger Espresso.
If organic espresso beans aren’t available, you can use your favorite espresso beans from your local grocery store or order online. Some that I have used and enjoyed are Starbuck’s Espresso (I use their dark roast) and Cafe Don Pablo.
Baking Sheet
I highly recommend having at least one good baking sheet in your kitchen. If you can possibly have two, please do! My favorite baking sheet is a rimmed half-sheet pan. It is perfect for toasting the espresso beans since it heats evenly in the oven, and the sides contain the espresso beans inside the pan.
Coffee or Spice Grinder
You will also need a coffee or spice grinder for grinding your toasted espresso beans. Many people love to grind their coffee freshly; that grinder is also excellent for your espresso powder. I often use a small burr-style conical grinder to grind coffee beans for making coffee. So, if you have one on hand, I highly recommend it for grinding your espresso beans for your espresso powder. I use a dedicated grinder for making my espresso powder since I use it so often in my baking. It was inexpensive and did a wonderful job evenly grinding my espresso beans in just a few seconds.
Airtight Spice Container
Once you’ve made your espresso powder, you’ll want to store it in an airtight container to maintain the flavor. I use the same style container for all of my seasonings and spice blends and for this. I’ve had wonderful luck with it keeping items fresh.
How Many Espresso Beans Do You Need to Make Espresso Powder
One question that I had when I first started making my own espresso powder was how many espresso beans I needed to make my own. I have found that generally, one cup of espresso beans will yield close to 1 cup of espresso powder. So, if you need more or less, you can easily make as much as you need.
I will say that I love to make a larger batch and then give it as a gift to friends and family!
How to Make Homemade Espresso Powder for Baking
Once you have all of your needed supplies for making your homemade espresso powder, you are ready to start making your own for baking! To make it, you preheat your oven and then spread your espresso beans in a single layer on your baking sheet. Next, you’ll bake your espresso beans until they have dried and are lightly toasted. I’ve found that this generally takes about an hour.
Then, remove the pan from the oven and allow the espresso beans to cool. Working in batches, grind your espresso beans into as fine powder as your grinder will grind.
Transfer your powder to your airtight container and store it for up to 5 months.
Favorite Recipes Using Espresso Powder
Once I discovered the power of a little espresso powder to enhance the flavor of chocolate baked goods without leaving a bitter coffee aftertaste, I never looked back! I’ve included a list of some of my favorite recipes using it for you below. These are all great ways to use this in your baking!
The Best Chocolate Cake
Perfect Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe
Best Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
Fudge Brownies Recipe
… and more
Frequent Questions Regarding Espresso Powder in Baking Recipes
I receive many of the same questions and comments regarding espresso powder for the recipes that I share with it included.
Does espresso powder leave your baked goods tasting like coffee?
I do not believe that espresso powder leaves a coffee flavor in baked goods when the right amount is used in the recipe. You’ll notice that for my chocolate cake, only 1 teaspoon of espresso powder is used.
Does espresso powder leave an aftertaste in your recipe?
No. I believe that there is no aftertaste in your chocolate recipe when using the right amount of espresso powder in your recipe. Again, you’ll want to make sure you aren’t adding too much espresso powder to a recipe when using it. I make sure to test, test, test my recipes to make sure that the ratios are perfectly balanced especially when including an ingredient like espresso powder.
As a matter of fact, when I was testing my chocolate cake recipe, I made the cake using a cup of coffee instead of boiling water. It left a strong coffee flavor with an aftertaste. For my next test, I tried using instant coffee granules and boiling water. Still a strong coffee flavor with a bitter aftertaste. Then, I tested with espresso powder (at various amounts until I got it just right!) and found that it heightened the flavor of the chocolate without adding the flavor of coffee and there was no bitter aftertaste! Eureka! 🙂
Do I have to use the espresso powder in the recipe?
If you would prefer not to use it, you can absolutely omit it from any of the chocolate baking recipes that I have included it in. It will not change the texture or the baking results of the recipe. But once you taste the cake baked with the espresso powder, you’ll be able to immediately notice when you bake it without!
Here’s my Homemade Espresso Powder recipe. I hope you enjoy it and the delicious recipes you create with it!
Espresso Powder Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup espresso beans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200º F.
- Spread espresso beans in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted and dried, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and grind in batches in a coffee or spice grinder until finely ground.
- Pour into a container with a tight fitting lid, such as a small Mason jar or spice jar, and store for up to 6 months.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Do I have to roast the Beans ? Can’t I just add the teaspoon of coffee without roasting ?? Will it taste as good.Â
Christina,
If you are asking about using the espresso powder for the Best Chocolate Cake recipe, you can just add the espresso powder. This espresso powder recipe was to show how to make espresso powder from the beans if you could not find it in your grocery store.
Hi!
I have a Nespresso espresso maker. Can I just use the espresso that is in one of the Nespresso pods for this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Diane,
I don’t think it will give the desired results. The espresso powder for baking is easy to make with my recipe. You can also purchase it in most baking sections of grocery stores and online. Hope this helps! xo
Hi Robyn, it is easy to buy roasted coffee beans here for making espresso. I’m gathering that it is important that the beans have this second roasting to develop additional flavour? Thanks for the fabulous recipe – I have never come across one as good as this in all my years of cooking and my daughter actually discovered this one!
Hi Judy,
I’m so happy you and your daughter enjoy the recipe! Make sure you use espresso beans when roasting them according to the recipe. I personally love the results from roasting them for the espresso powder this way. Hope this helps! Thanks!
Such a great idea to make your own espresso powder! I’m going to try this ASAP! 🙂
It’s delicious! Enjoy it! Thanks Jamie!
Just had a chance to make “The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe {Ever}” for my husbands birthday and mine which are two days apart What a Delicious Cake and the icing was just as tasty!
I used my Vita Mix to grind the roasted coffee beans down and it worked just fine!
So have you ever made egg free, gluten free and dairy free all in the same cake? Did it work?
Does this espresso powder dissolve completely in water like the the commercial instant espresso powders? Thanks!
Hi Mona,
I made this for baking purposes and I’ve not used this as for drinking or compared it to instant espresso powder. It is definitely delicious in my chocolate cake! Thanks! xo
Hi, would you still have to toast it if your coffee beans are already roasted? Or could u just grind them up straight away. Also, do they have to be espresso beans or would regular coffee beans work too?
Maley, I use organic medium roast espresso beans, then toast them until they are a little drier and have a darker roast. I have just found that works best for me. The espresso beans give a darker, richer flavor than regular coffee beans.
Do you happen to know how much caffeine is in one teaspoon. I would love to use it but hubby is very sensitive to caffeine. I hope this makes sense.
Some google maths says around 95ml Caffeine in 8oz of coffee (call it 12ml for 1oz), 1 teaspoon would have 1/6th of that, so 2ml caffeine, and that’s spread around the entirety of the dessert.
Or, another way to think of it is: there is 1/48th of a cup of coffee in a teaspoon of powder.
The other thing is that while caffeine is highly water soluble, (it’s the first thing that extracts while brewing, flavor is much slower) it’s temperature stable until 250C. So in all likelyhood, it’s sticking around in the oven post-roasting. This makes sense as coffee roasting goes past 205C.
One last thing is if you use dark roast coffee (generally synonymous with “espresso” as espresso is typically brewed with dark roasted beans), there’s less caffeine as the beans have gotten closer to that 250C temp and some of the caffeine gets burned off.
Get a decaf dark roast bean (Peet’s Major Dickason’s Decaf might well be stocked by your local grocery), keep the bag in the freezer, follow this recipe, and you’ll have caffeine free espresso powder for months!
I ‘read’ temp wrongly as 200c, not Fahrenheit – Oh dear, big difference in temp. Should convert to half that!
I’m sorry, Anne. I can see it could be confusing if you normally use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.
Can I grind the expresso beans in my Vitamix blender using the dry container?
Jill
Hi Jill,
I’ve not tried that, but what a great idea! Do let me know how it works for you if you try it!
Hi, I’m wondering if expresso powder is the same thing as instant coffee? Thank you.
Espresso powder is not the same as instant coffee, Vanessa. Espresso powder is more concentrated than instant coffee and is used for baking.
Your recipe doesn’t state the oven time but I did see where you said it takes about an hour @200 degrees for them to be toasted enough. They are dark beans so to me that would be hard to tell when they are toasted or not.
I never thought about making my own espresso powder. This stuff can be expensive to buy. I normally use it for ice cream and use it often…this is a great idea!
Hi Cheryl,
I sure hope you enjoy making your own! I use it fairly often as well and it can get pretty pricey in the stores. It does take about an hour in a 200º F oven to lightly toast. I can generally tell the difference if I keep a few of the espresso beans on the counter so that I can compare them. They will be different in coloring and in dryness.Â
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Robyn,
I have espresso beans that have already been grounded. Do you think it would work to toast the grounded version ? I’m ready to make the cake this morning and that is the only thing I am missing.
You can omit the espresso powder if you want, Lisa.