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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
Sarah says
Made this cake and came out perfectly – so delicious
Suzanne says
Hey, can I use vegetable oil instead of butter for the frosting?
Charlotte Oates says
No.
Emily says
Didn’t rise at all
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that. How old was your baking powder? It will lose its raising powers over time. To check if it’s still working as it should, try adding a little to some boiling water. The heat of the water will activate the raising agents and make lots of bubbles, if this doesn’t happen then that will be the reason it didn’t rise.
Lerusha says
Good Day, can I make this in a square pan instead of round?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, just pop your tin dimensions into the calculator in the post and it’ll tell you the quantities you need.
Val says
I’ve been asked to make a coffee birthday cake which needs to be covered in sugar paste. Just one tier. Is this cake firm enough to take sugar paste please?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, it’s a very similar sponge to the one I use for my vanilla and chocolate birthday cakes which are perfect for covering in fondant.
Lynette says
Just checking would salted or unsalted butter work better in this recipe?
Charlotte Oates says
I use unsalted
Claudia says
Hi can I bake them all in one tin and then cut into 2 layers when it’s cooled? Thanks.
Charlotte Oates says
You can but it’s not something I recommend as people can have mixed results. In some cases when people use a deeper tin the cake can dip in the middle after baking. If you want to give it a try then it’ll need to be baked at the same temperature for c. 50 minutes.
Shal says
Can I use the powder from a nesspresso pod you think!
Charlotte Oates says
I wouldn’t do that as Nespresso pods contain finely ground coffee beans. For this cake you need instant coffee (which will dissolve in the mixture of the other ingredients).
Sylvie says
Hello Charlotte
Can I use white caster sugar instead of the soft light brown?
Love your recipes, thank you !
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, your cake will have a slightly different flavour, but it’ll still work well.
Belinda Dennis says
I need a recipe for your coffee cake it looks amazing, I have 2 square tins which are. 25.4 x 4.1 x 20.3.. I’ve tried using the converter but not getting anywhere, help please xx
Charlotte Oates says
The calculator is designed to give ingredients for cakes with a depth the same as those shown in the original cake (just different width and height). For those tins you’d add 25.4 in one box and 20.3 in the other. Adjusting for the different depth would result in the cake needing a different cooking time. Also, making this in deeper tins doesn’t always give such good results (sometimes it’s perfect, but some people find it can sink a little in the middle) which us why I don’t include depth as a variable in the calculator.
Bably says
This cake was a big hit with my family. I made it with self raising gluten free flour from Doves farm. I used less icing sugar for the buttercream. Thank you for a super recipe
Lu says
Hi,
Will the buttercream set so that I can do a ‘drip’ icing effect? I was planning to smooth buttercream all over the top and sides. Also, should I beat the wet ingredients first and sift the flour, or just throw it all in a bowl un-mixed, and mix all together at once? Thanks.
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, this buttercream gets a “crust” if left for a few hours as a classic buttercream would so it’s perfect for adding a drip to. No need to mix the wet ingredients before adding the dry, just chuck it all in together and mix. I don’t sift my flour unless it’s become very compacted for some reason.
Janice says
I made this coffee cake for my sister’s birthday, it was a big success. Everyone loved it and the coffee flavour was really present. I used decaf coffee as that’s what my sister prefers and that worked perfectly. Thanks for a great recipe.
Vindhya says
How can I do this cake without eggs
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately this cake is designed to be made with eggs and they’re not straightforward to replace without making several other adjustments. I’d recommend finding a cake that’s been specifically designed to be eggless/vegan.
Ayesha Shaikh says
I want to make this as a single layer cake for 12 people.
How does the baking time & temperature change?
Thank you!!!
Charlotte Oates says
Before I can answer your question I could do with a bit more info. When you say “single layer” do you mean you want to bake all of the mixture in a single deeper tin, you want to use a larger tin making a single layer of the same height as those shown in the images, or you want to make a single layer of the height shown in the images (in which case you’ll need to adjust the ingredient quantities). Let me know and I’ll give you the information you need. Thanks.
Ayesha says
Thank you for responding!! Same diameter but I only had 1 tin. I ended up taking a chance & baking the mixture together. It looks ok I haven’t tasted it yet though! Nervous that I’ve made a mistake!!
I have guest coming over
Suja says
Will the whip cream frosting works for this ? Should I use different method for making whip cream frosting ?
Suja says
I’m planning to try this out !!
Charlotte Oates says
I’m not entirely clear what you mean by whipped cream frosting but if you’re talking about a sweetened and stabilized whipped cream, that should work. Unfortunately I don’t have a dedicated recipe but a quick Google search should help you. If you are asking about another type of frosting, please let me know some more details.
Hania Moid says
Hi! As u said that to mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then beat with an electric mixer,,wont the cake become too hard after it is baked bc I always fold in the flour and never beat it with an electric mixer? Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
No, the ingredient quantities are set so that you get a lovely soft sponge with the given method.
ellie says
i have tried this recipe yesterday twice and on both occasions the cake butter split … I had eggs and butter in room temperature as well as the milk. Any idea what did I do wrong? should I try mixing eggs in one by one perhaps . the flavour is still amazing, it just is not as fluffy due to the splitting.
Charlotte Oates says
Are you mixing all of the ingredients together at the same time or beating the butter and sugar and then adding the eggs?
Nuha says
Hi! I was wondering if I could use all purpose flour instead of plain flour? Would it reach the same results?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes. They’re pretty much the same just with different names.
Janine Edgar says
I love this cake!
Are walnuts or any other nuts also suitable for the cake?
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, you can fold 100g of chopped nuts into the mixture before adding it to the tins.
Anne Marie says
Hi, is it ok to use coffee essence instead ..?
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t tried it, but it should be fine.