Contains Affiliate Links
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
Subscribe to the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen mailing list to get your FREE printable grams to cups and cups to grams conversion charts for twelve popular baking ingredients
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
Sarah Phillips says
Charlotte, i am going to try your recipe. If I want walnuts in the cake (not just on top), do you know if I just add them crushed to the cake mixture and does the cooking time need to adjust at all?
Charlotte Oates says
You’ll be fine adding finely chopped walnuts into the cake mixture. Make sure they aren’t too chunky as if they’re too heavy they may sink to the bottom, but if they’ chopped like you’d buy in the supermarket, they’ll be fine.
I’d add about 100g.
There should be no need to adjust the cooking time or temperature.
Paula says
Made this Recipe step by step And it came out flat and after reading the above comment i used a brand new baking powder Disappointed because I’ve used your other recipes and they have turned out fab
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that the cake didn’t rise. Is there any chance you used bicarbonate of soda instead of baking powder? The acidity in this cake mixture isn’t high enough to active bicarb, so it wouldn’t rise. If it definitely was baking powder, can you check you powder? To test if it’s good to use add a little to some boiling water. If it bubbles then it’s fine.
Mandy says
May I know if I want to just bake a one layer coffee cake instead of splitting into 2 layers, using the same recipe calculated for a 22cm round tin, what will be the right oven temperature and duration of baking? Does it means to bake for same 160degC at longer than 35 minutes? Thank you.
Charlotte Oates says
You could make it in one deep in rather than sandwich tin, however I find people cake get mixed results doing this. For some it turns out just fine, but for others it can sometimes sink in the middle after baking. I therefore always recommend using sandwich tins. If you do decide to give it a try, then you’ll been to bake it for 50-55 minutes.
Roxanne says
Second time trying this recipe and came our perfect for my mum’s birthday cake, very pleased although I got carried away with the buttercream and it came out runnier than I would’ve liked (my fault) I’m going to try the biscoff cupcakes next! Thank you for the recipe Charlotte x
Paul W says
I found coffee granules undissolved in a light fluffy cake so I suggest you dissolve the coffee in the smallest amount of hot water at the beginning and leave it to cool while you get on with it.
Love these recipes
Charlotte Oates says
In the instructions I recommend using coffee powder or grinding the granules down to a powder as you’re right the granules won’t dissolve into the sponge if you use them without grinding them.
Anna says
Love this recipe – easy to follow and cake turns out lovely every time. Sponge manages to be moist and fluffy, and I love the strong coffee taste! The buttercream is also delicious, and the vanilla really comes through and blends in nicely. Can’t wait to try even more
David says
I followed the recipe to the letter and I was rewarded with a light, fluffy and extremely tasty cake.
A nicely balanced and not overly coffee flavoured sponge.
Buttercream was soft and tasty too.
Jon says
As others have said, followed to the letter and was met with a flat, overcooked disc. 30-35mins is far too long for a cake to be baking. Also had an odd bitter aftertaste too it.
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear the cake didn’t work for you. Can you check the date on your baking powder? If the cake was flat, then to sounds as though it didn’t work properly suggesting it may have been old (sadly baking powder looses its raising powers over time). If the cake didn’t rise properly then it would have been overcooked in 30-35 minutes and that would also probably explain the bitter aftertaste.
You can check if your baking powder is working properly by adding a little to some boiling water. If it bubbles then it’s fine. If not then you’ll need to get some more.
Karen says
Delicious ! Will probably make 2/3 of the buttercream next time as I think it was a little too thick. The coffee flavour is excellent.
Kajen says
Hi Can you tell me if I could use self raising flour for this recipe, if I can then the quantity of the baking powder changes too? Right? If you could let me know about this, it would be much appreciated.
Thank you
Charlotte Oates says
Switch the 200g of plain flour for 200g of self-raising and leave out all of the baking powder.
Mark says
Followed this reciepe step by step, ended up with flat cake and water buttercrean
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that. It sounds as though there was some problem with your baking powder. Was it quite old? It can lose it’s raising powers over time meaning that cakes don’t rise properly. Alternatively, is there any chance you used bicarbonate of soda instead of baking powder? Bicarb needs an acid to activate it and get the cake to rise, this cake doesn’t really contain anything that would make that reaction happen, so if you did use that instead, that would explain why the cake was flat.
You can check if your baking powder is working properly by adding a little to some boiling water. If it bubbles then it’s fine. If not then you’ll need to get some more.
With regards too the buttercream, it sounds as though either your butter was too soft when you started (it should be soft enough to beat in the other ingredients, but not runny), or you added the coffee mixture too quickly. The coffee needs to be added 1 tsp at a time to ensure that your buttercream keeps the right consistency.
Kate says
Fantastic cake! Just made it for the VE celebrations. It worked perfectly with a great coffee taste. The buttercream was especially good. Thanks for such a super recipe. I shall check out your other recipes!
Zainab Dhillon says
I love this recipe so much. Everytime it’s an occasion I’m normally in the kitchen baking. I always come to your website for recipes seeing as they are so simple yet so freaking delicious. I’ve made this coffee cake 2 times now and everyone has loved it. I always get a 10/10 for this. The recipe is given very simply and is very easy to follow so there is no confusion. Love your website. It’s absolutely the best one there. I’m so glad I found your website. Best thing ever. Definitely recommend everyone to try this recipe
Chloe Edges | Feast Glorious Feast says
Coffee cake is my absolute fave even though I didn’t actually like it at all until a couple of years ago! Your coffee buttercream recipe is especially delicious and its what I now use every time!
Choclette says
I think I need to make this for CT. He absolutely adores coffee cake and this looks like it should be a birthday special.
Olivia says
Tastes amazing!! Ended up cooking it for 25 minutes at 160 as this seemed to be the perfect time.
One thing though I had to cut it to make the cake more even, do you have any advice on cooking a cake evenly?
Charlotte Oates says
Was that 160C in a fan or conventional oven?
If it’s a fan oven then I’d suggest lowering the temperature. I find that baking on a high temperature means the middle rises more. I like to bake my cakes for longer on a lower temperature as I find this gives them a flatter top.
Liz says
Hello, this sounds delish. How can I alter if i don’t want to put too much sugar? Can I reduce the coffee if I reduce the sugar? And can I use caster sugar instead og brown sugar?
Charlotte Oates says
If you reduce the coffee, replace it with the same weight of flour. You can reduce the flour, but you’ll find that the cake texture isn’t quite the same. It won’t be quite as light and fluffy.
You can replace the brown sugar with caster, but you’ll lose the slight caramel hint the brown sugar gives.
Michelle Penfold says
At last an online recipe that does what it says on the tin. Ive just made this awesome cake and it tastes delicious not like some you buy in some tea rooms that only have a whiff of coffee. I have saved this recipe and will definitely be making it again and again. Thankyou Charlotte. I will try and email a photo of it
Mercedeh says
I used your recepie for birthday cake, and every one loved it, the taste and texture was perfect. Thank you so much. I wish I could share the photo of it
Charlotte Oates says
If you want to send a picture, you can email it to me at [email protected]
Kanika says
Hey there Any substitute for eggs , need to make a vegetarian cake as in eggless
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately there’s no easy substitute for eggs in this cake which will give the same results. You could adapt my vegan vanilla sponge cake to have a coffee flavour by Removing 15g of the flour and adding 2 tbsp of coffee powder and switching the caster sugar for soft light brown sugar.
Steff says
Disappointing if I’m honest. Used the calculator and followed to the letter for a 22cm tin and single layer and what I got was barely more than 3/4 of an inch thick. No rise, nothing: just what I suspect is going to be a giant iced coffee biscuit.
Not everyone has the tins, time or ability to make a layer cake and I thought this was going to be a brilliant, personalised solution for that. It isn’t. Second recipe I’ve followed online for coffee cake. This one is at least head and shoulders above the one on the BBC Good Foods website!
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that the cake was disappointing. I hope it tasted good even if it was on the thin side.
The calculator rounds the cake ingredients to the nearest whole egg (to ensure that you don’t end up with partial eggs). For a 22cm tin that means it actually gives the same quantities as for a 20cm tin (when you make one layer, it’s higher for 2 layers as you get an extra egg), meaning you end up with a thinner sponge. If you wanted to give it another go, then I’d suggest using the ingredients for a 23cm tin (3 eggs rather than 2). This will give you a much deeper sponge.
Thanks for the feedback, I’m going to review how the calculator when it’s borderline between increasing the number of eggs or not to see if I can make the calculation a little better.
Diana Cockram says
Excellent cake I made this & it turned out so light & fluffy& so moist, my hubby nearly dimolished it already. I’m on my second cake making it already ♥️