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Easy Coffee Cake – A delicious all-in-one coffee sponge topped with smooth coffee buttercream. Simple to make and packed full of flavour.
PLUS – How to make this cake in any size of round, square or rectangular tin.
Last week I shared with you my recipe for Easy Chocolate Cake, and today I’m back with another simple, classic cake recipe – Coffee Cake topped with Coffee Buttercream.
Two big cake recipes in a row?
Yes. I realised that I have so many more cupcakes on here than full-sized layer cakes. The reason for this is that I almost always test new cake recipes as cupcakes, as it’s easy to make small batches making lots of little tweaks until the recipe is just perfect. As soon as the recipe is just right, I’ll share it on here and move onto the next one.
I decided it was about time that some of those cupcakes were transformed into big cakes, so I’m on a mission to supersize them all for you.
One of the reasons I love this coffee cake recipe is that both the sponge and the buttercream are absolutely jam-packed with coffee flavour.
Coffee is one of my absolute favourite cake flavours, and I struggle to resist buying a slice if I spot one in a coffee shop. However, sadly I’ve noticed that quite a few lack coffee flavour in the actual sponge, there’s the subtlest hint, but all the coffee flavour is in the icing. Not so with this cake, both the sponge and buttercream are packed full of flavour.
Can I use freshly brewed coffee rather than powder or granules?
No, the reason I use instant coffee powder or granules in this recipe is that it’s the easiest way to get an intense coffee flavour into both the sponge and buttercream. The amount of freshly brewed coffee needed would mean adding too much liquid to the mixture.
You also cannot substitute the coffee powder/granules for ground coffee beans. Making this substitution wouldn’t give the same flavour (as they need brewing to bring out the flavour) as the coffee beans wouldn’t dissolve into the mixture, so you’d end up with bitty cake and buttercream.
I only have coffee granules, how do I grind them into a powder?
I always use granules rather than powder and I simply give mine a quick blitz in my spice grinder. You can also grind them in a pestle and mortar.
Can I use decaf coffee?
Absolutely. We mostly drink decaf coffee at home and so that’s what I usually use for my cakes. The results of using regular instant coffee and decaf are the same.
Can I use self-raising flour instead of plain?
Absolutely. Instead of the 200g of plain flour and 2½ tsp of baking powder listed in the recipe, use 210g of self-raising flour.
Other recipe inspiration for coffee lovers
If you’re like me and love coffee flavoured treats then take a look at some of my other coffee-filled recipes:
- Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes – coffee cupcakes topped with whipped cream and a hidden caramel centre
- Coffee & Walnut Cake
- Cappuccino Truffles
- Coffee Cupcakes
What’s the best way to store my coffee cake?
This coffee cake can be stored in an airtight container for 4-5 days. Preferably it should be stored in the fridge (but allow it to come up to room temperature before eating as it’ll have a better flavour and the buttercream will soften), but it’ll be fine at room temperature providing the room isn’t too warm.
This cake is suitable for freezing, either just the coffee sponge or the buttercreamed cake. To freeze the coffee sponge cake, wait for it to cool and then wrap the cake in clingfilm or store it in an airtight container before freezing. Defrost it thoroughly before decorating.
The buttercreamed cake can also be frozen in the same way. If you’ve piped the cake beautifully and you’re worried about squashing it when you wrap it in buttercream simply freeze the cake uncovered on a dish for an hour to firm up the buttercream. Then wrap it in clingfilm. As the buttercream is already solid, it won’t get squashed. When you want to defrost the cake, remove it from the freezer and remove the clingfilm (so it doesn’t stick to the buttercream as it thaws).
I would not recommend freezing just the buttercream to use later as the consistency becomes a little too fudgy. This means it’s delicious on the cake but tricky to spread or pipe.
What are the coffee cake ingredients for a different size of tin?
As for my easy chocolate cake, I wanted to make it simple for you to make this cake in a different size or shape (either round, square or rectangular) so you can get it to fit in a tin you already have at home or feed as many or few people as you need.
The main recipe below is for a two-layer 20cm round cake (this serves 12 people). However, this recipe is easily adapted to use other sizes of tins.
To find the ingredients needed to make this cake in a different size, simply add the dimensions of your tin and the number of layers into the boxes below and hit “Calculate”.
Round Cake
Cake Diameter (cm)
Number of Layers
Cake Ingredients
0 g plain flour
0 tsp baking powder
0 tsp coffee powder/granules
0 medium egg(s)
0 g soft margarine or butter
0 g soft light brown sugar
0 tsp milk
0 tsp salt
Buttercream Ingredients
0 g butter
0 g icing sugar
0 tsp vanilla extract
0 tsp instant coffee powder/granules
0 tsp boiling water
Square or rectangular cake
Cake Size (cm)
x
Number of layers
Cake Ingredients
0 g plain flour
0 tsp baking powder
0 tsp coffee powder/granules
0 medium egg(s)
0 g soft margarine or butter
0 g soft light brown sugar
0 tsp milk
0 tsp salt
Buttercream Ingredients
0 g butter
0 g icing sugar
0 tsp vanilla extract
0 tsp instant coffee powder/granules
0 tsp boiling water
FREE GRAMS TO CUPS CONVERSION CHARTS
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Easy Coffee Cake
INGREDIENTS
For the coffee sponge
- 3 tbsp instant coffee powder - or coffee granules ground to a powder
- 200 g plain flour
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- 220 g soft light brown sugar
- 220 g margarine or butter - butter must be soft at room temperature
- 4 medium eggs
- 2 tsp milk
- ⅛ tsp salt
For the coffee buttercream
- 200 g butter - soft at room temperature
- 400 g icing sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 8 tsp instant coffee powder or granules
- 4 tsp boiling water
- A little milk
This recipe is for 2x 20cm round sandwich tins. To find the ingredients for a different size of tin please use the calculator above the recipe.
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the coffee sponge
- Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
Line two 20cm round sandwich tins with greaseproof paper or re-usable baking tin liners (I use these tins and these liners). - Put all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl (3 tbsp coffee powder, 200g plain flour, 2½ tsp baking powder, 220g soft light brown sugar, 220g margarine or butter, 4 medium eggs, 2 tsp milk, ⅛ tsp salt). Beat with an electric mixer or by hand on a low speed until all of the ingredients are combined.
- Split the mixture between the two prepared tins. Then bake for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Once the cakes are cooked, remove them from the oven. Leave them to cool in their tins for about 10 minutes before removing them from the tins and moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the coffee buttercream
- While the cakes are cooling make the coffee buttercream. Start by mixing together the instant coffee powder/granules (8 tsp) with the boiling water (4 tsp). Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl beat the butter (200g) and vanilla extract (¼ tsp) on a low speed until soft. Add the icing sugar (400g) and beat on a low speed until combined with the butter and smooth. Gradually add the coffee mixture, 1 tsp at a time. After each addition beat the buttercream until the coffee has been fully combined before adding more.
- Check the consistency of your buttercream. It should be soft enough that you could spread it onto a slice of bread. If it is too firm, then add a little milk (no more than 1 tsp at a time) until it is your desired consistency.
Build the cake
- Place the bottom layer of your coffee sponge onto your serving dish. Spread about ⅓ of the coffee buttercream evenly across the sponge (I like to use a palette knife, but you could use a regular knife or the back of a spoon).
- Add the top layer of sponge. Again spread ⅓ of the coffee buttercream on top. Put the remaining buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (I use a JEM1B nozzle). Pipe 12 blobs of buttercream evenly spaced around the edge of the cake. I give the piping bag a little wiggle as I squeeze so that the buttercream looks slightly ruffled.Of course, if you don't fancy piping, simply split the buttercream even between the middle and top of the cake.
- Serve
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
Mark M says
Made it for a friend’s birthday because she loves coffee, turned out great! For the record, I am a college student and I was able to bake this cake by following the instructions.
Calculator was amazing too since I only had a 22cm tin!
Noelle says
The easiest, tastiest coffee cake ever. Got loads of compliments. Thanks so much, Charlotte.
Picasso says
I bought a new tub of baking powder and wonder if those who ended up with a biscuit consistency were using out of date baking powder?
Picasso says
I found Cloe Edge’s post really helpful as when I clicked the link to the cake tin, it showed a very deep tin and I wanted to use sandwich tins (also from Wilko ). My tins are 3cm deep so I was a bit anxious about using all the mixture and erred on the cautious side, making three small cupcakes as well. Next time I’ll use it all.
We used Elmlea double (reduced to 10p in ASDA) instead of the buttercream and didn’t dare add coffee to it, so it wasn’t as strongly coffee tasting as we’d hoped. The Elmlea made it a very light cake and it was utterly delicious. We also added a layer of home made-marmalade to the filling. It hadn’t set properly so was perfect to spread over the cake.
Thank you for this recipe. It was fantastic. I’m going to grate chocolate over the top next time. I don’t think the Elmlea will pipe well and that’s beyond my skill set anyway.
Chloe Edges says
Glad I was able to help!
jj says
love it
Sylvia says
Hii charolette
My daughter is singing for the Christmas choir and she goes for these practices and had to take a cake since it was her birthday… I made this cake as a serving cake with no icing and topped it with walnuts for decorative purposes….it baked perfectly well and served the entire gang with people asking me for the recipe….thanks and this recipe is a keeper for me!!! Seasons greetings!!!
Laura says
I have only used the recipe once but was thrilled with the results, and will be using it again. Not sure why there are negative comments, there is plenty of mixture for two 20cm tins and the cake had a good rise, although I did use self-raising flour instead of plain.
Rebecca Paul says
Thankyou for this recipe! A cousin recommended it and now it’s my only go-to cake for all occasions! Love it!
Yvonne says
The cake is absolutely incredible – huge hit in our house. Thank you!
Chloe Edges says
I keep seeing negative comments on a cake that I’ve made made times. To satisfy my personal curiosity and geekery I’ve just tested this recipe with absolute adherence to the recipe instructions (not my usual style, I’m a rather free and easy baker) using the following ingredients and equipment:
Kenco Millicano Americano coffee granules – ground to a rough powder by hand using a pestle
Aldi plain flour
Borwick baking powder
Aldi soft light brown sugar
Countrylife unsalted butter block
Iceland medium eggs – purchased 4 days before
Skimmed milk
Aldi table salt
I measured my tin – its 20cm in diameter, around 5cm tall and I lined it with a fluted paper liner which came up and over the rim of the tin. I did not grease the tin or paper. The tin is a basic grey non stick tin from Wilkos (RIP).
Oven temp was measured with a standalone thermometer to ensure 160c. Oven is a fan oven.
The batter was made with an electric hand whisk and was mixed only until everything was fully combined and no longer. I did stop once to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure nothing was missed. The batter is thick but totally as expected.
I weighed the batter to make sure it was equally split between the two tins. The batter was spread using a spatula, it reached the edges of the tin without any issue whatsoever and came to just under half way up the side of the tin. This is exactly what I would expect from what is essentially a slight variation on a classic 8oz victoria sponge mix in a 20cm tin.
The sponges baked perfectly in exactly 30 minutes. The tops were flat and a skewer came out clean.
The sponge was well baked, tasted good and had exactly the texture you’d expect an all in one sponge cake to have.
I am at a total loss as to why there are comments about there being insufficient batter to fill the tins. The only logical explanation is that the tins being used are the wrong size or the ingredients have been measured incorrectly. Like I said, this is a standard amount of ingredients for a 20cm cake.
As for sponges coming out like a biscuit, again I cannot fathom how, if the recipe is correctly followed, that this is possible unless there is a severe fault with the oven.
Interesting experiment for me but no helpful revelations for anyone struggling I’m afraid.
Sarah Nelson says
Made this delicious cake today ,I used slightly smaller tins and cake was fab .Definitely use this recipe again
Terry says
Not enough mixture, cake tastes wonderful but two flat biscuits is all I ended up with.
I will make again but will double the mixture, seems to be a common problem now I’ve read the comments
Charlotte Oates says
Please make sure that you are following all of the ingredient, measuring and equipment guidance fully. With around 950g of ingredients, this recipe will make more than enough batter to comfortably cover two 20cm pans. If your cakes aren’t rising, it is entirely possible that your baking powder is inactive so please check this too.
Rajesh says
definitely doesn’t make enough for 2 X 20cm based tins following the recipe, and definitely too thick of a mixture, can you film a video of yourself making this so I can see where I went wrong? you dismissed 2 other people who raised the same issues with the recipe saying it worked for others.
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve tested this recipe many times, if the ingredients are measured correctly and the tins are of the correct size then there is more than sufficient mixture to spread out to the edges of the tins with a good thickness. The batter is thick but should be very spreadable. You may need to make sure that the butter you are using is soft as this could affect the thickness of the batter. If it really is too thick you can add more milk. I don’t mean to be dismissive but without seeing exactly what people are doing, it is exceptionally difficult to troubleshoot a recipe that works for the vast majority of people when it is claimed that the recipe is followed fully.
Ffion says
This recipe is great! Taste delicious!!
But I’m confused regarding the measurements.. following the measurements given I have no idea how you can spread it across 2x 20cm circular cake tins! Just fit one nicely
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately I have no way of knowing what the difference is as the recipe makes 2 sponges easily every time I test it. I’m aware that this issue has been raised by other people but I have never been able to replicate it and as you will see from the comments, hundreds of other people loved the recipe and not experienced that issue either.
Sarina Ostler says
Baked this cake last night
Had people to tea this morning….7 people finished it as quick as now, if there where more that would also have been gone
So soft and flavorful
Thank you
Amy says
Followed recipe to a tee using digital scales to weigh ingredients. Eggs at room temperature. Butter was very soft but not melted. Problems:
(1)Did not make enough batter to cover the bottom of my 2x 20cm cake tins.
(2)Batter was very thick & sticky & gloopy, hard to get off spoon into tin, & had to use the back of a spoon heathed in boiling water to spread the batter out enough.
(3)Resulting cakes were thin & greasy.
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately I have no way of knowing what the difference is as the recipe makes 2 sponges easily every time I test it. I’m aware that this issue has been raised by other people but I have never been able to replicate it and as you will see from the comments, hundreds of other people loved the recipe and not experienced that issue either.
Juliet says
Hi Charlotte
Mine came out like biscuits ☹️ what did I do wrong I put correct size cake tins and weighed everything
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately it is very difficult to know where the problem lies without having been there.
Eli says
Hi so I was wondering if I can use coffee essence instead and if so how much to replace the 8 tsp of coffee grounds
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately I haven’t tested exactly how much you would need to use but I am sure you could use the essence instead.
Joyce says
This has to be the best and easiest and lightest coffee cake there is and having a calculator chart to adjust to your tin size is just amazing! Thank you Charlotte!! I hadn’t made a cake since the end of the pandemic and now I realise how easy you make it for us.. why pay the shop prices for average cakes when you can easily make these!!!
Colin Richard Mackay says
Cracking coffee flavour – dont eat last thing at night if you want a good nights sleep !