Coffee Crunch Spiral Cake and How Anxiety Steals Our Peace

Coffee Crunch Spiral Cake

The Cake That Chose Itself

I honestly had no real reason for choosing the Coffee Crunch Spiral for this week’s cake. I might as well have put up a dartboard with the remaining cakes.

Surprisingly, my choice of cake aligned with a couple of things this week. Who is familiar with the anxiety spiral? Now fuel that anxiety with caffeine (coffee), and welcome to my family.

The fear of the unknown and the grip of uncertainty are fuel to the fire of the anxiety spiral. My family experienced some of it this week. I feel like this is a “Choose Your Adventure” story—do you want to hear about my son panicking about his bar exam results or about me coming across my mom’s old voicemails that sent me into a slight spiral?

First things first…you might want to hear about this heavenly cake.

Rolling In With Ease

What do you think when you look at a “fancy cake”? I think, “That looks like extra work.” While this one took a few extra steps, it really took less than I expected.

Julie Richardson, the author of Antique Cakes, describes the original Coffee Crunch Cake as a “lemon layer cake with coffee cream”. Apparently, it was a famous cake, but I’m not going to lie…the sound of it is unappealing. Thank you, Julie, for turning this into a light-as-air chiffon roll with luxurious coffee cream filling.

The cake was fluffed up with six egg whites folded into a smooth vanilla batter of silky cake flour and egg yolks. The coffee cream was divine. I wanted to eat it like a fine mousse. The recipe allowed for vanilla flavoring or Kahlua. Which do you think I chose? Kahlua coffee cream…enough said.

Coffee Toffee

The crowning touch on this gem was the coffee crunch, of course. The special element this week, besides the Kahlua, was actually the homemade crunch topping.

It reminded me of my caramel corn recipe. The sugar, corn syrup, and strong coffee (butter pecan flavored) were boiled to the hard crack stage on a candy thermometer. Then a mixture of finely ground coffee beans and baking soda was whisked in.

What do you think happened? Like a science experiment, it caused a crazy foaming reaction. I dumped it like hot lava onto a lined, greased pan. It spread and cooled to a pumice-like coffee toffee before I pulverized it.

Ethereal, Punctuated by a Crunch

This cake must be eaten soon after coated with the crunch. Since I wasn’t serving immediately, I sliced off the ends (conveniently, as directed in the recipe for best presentation), and coated single servings for me and my husband. 

It did make a charming presentation. Although it was just an ordinary Thursday night, it begged for a dainty china plate. And why stop there? I spun up a little tea party with a matching cup and saucer. What a sweet little boost on a random evening.

The cake itself was a delight…emphasis on the “light”. As mentioned above, the thin, cloud-like chiffon, lavishly layered with sweet, silken Kahlua coffee cream was dreamy. Described in one word—ethereal. 

And then the crunch…my husband and others who tried it, even non-coffee lovers, adored the crunch. The result was two elements—pillowy and crunchy—creating a pleasing textural juxtaposition.

Enjoy the In-Between—The Transcend Moment

Tea cups and fancy cake…on a Thursday for no reason at all. The irony of how this happened confounds me…in a good way. The universe somehow seems to know when I need a spot of harmony, and one of the most soothing things for me is a spot of tea. My mom gave me my love of tea and pretty little cups to sip it from. The china I used was actually my mother-in-law’s old china, making it nostalgic at the same time.

As alluded to in the beginning, a couple of things brought up “feelings” this week. Lately, I've been reeling myself back from the anxiety spiral because it’s one of those seasons. Not only the literal change in seasons, but a change in life seasons. You know—the uncertainty, the emotions, all the things. I’ve been intentionally seeking the joy of the in-between. Discovering saved voicemails back to 2018 brought “feelings,” and I’m glad I saved them.

Sometimes it’s a life season that causes anxiety, and sometimes it’s an event. In my son’s case, it was waiting for his bar exam results.

Awaiting the date of the result release was both good and bad. The certainty of knowing when something in your life will change is comforting. On the other hand, the date is set to cue the anxiety spiral.

If you are unfamiliar, the bar exam is a pricey, two-day test that determines whether or not a law school graduate may become a licensed attorney. Obviously, it has a pretty consequential determination for one’s career.

Knowing that the bar results were to be released on Friday, my son had determined that he might not have a job on Monday (a slight overreaction). It’s difficult to determine via texting, but it seemed that the spiral continued descent as the date neared. 

Insert Mom bragging a little—he passed, AND his score placed him well within the top 10% of test-takers. So, how ridiculous does it seem now that he was distraught?

We’re all aware to a certain extent that worrying needlessly steals our energy and peace. What is the value in worrying about something that hasn’t and might not even happen? 

It’s easy to throw that statement out there, but it’s much harder to put into action, especially when the anxiety spiral starts to suck you down. And unfortunately, for some of us, that spiral is hardwired into our brains.

I’m a frequent rider of the anxiety spiral. It’s so much easier to see the start of the slide in someone else than in yourself. One thing to consider, if you can stop for a second, is what is the worst-case scenario if it actually happens? And how likely is it? Is it something you actually need to prepare for right now, like an emergency? I asked my son these very questions. Most of the time, the answer is no. So why worry right now?

If we could think about this when our own brains start to spin out, we’d save a lot of energy. Every day I preemptively tell myself to embrace uncertainty, release control, and enjoy what I know is certain right now. Sometimes the spiral wins, but my mama didn’t raise a quitter. 

Maybe that’s what this cake was trying to teach me. The spiral will keep going until we recognize it, acknowledge it, and realize it’s okay right now. 

There’s not always a defined end, whether it’s a season or a date on the calendar. But the middle, the in-between (that Kahlua coffee cream) is there for us if we can slow down to taste it and sip our tea.