I am, without a doubt, a coffee addict and coffee cake is one of my favourite ways to get my coffee fix. Here is my recipe for an easy and delicious vegan coffee cake, covered in a sweet coffee buttercream and chopped walnuts.
When eating a coffee cake, I want to taste strong coffee flavours throughout, therefore I like to add coffee to both my sponges and my icing. I have experimented with a few different ways to get the perfect coffee flavour, my favourite way is by dissolving instant coffee powder in a very small amount of boiling water and adding this to my sponge mixture. This stops any gritty coffee granules from adding it straight into the mixture, and also keeps the batter thick compared to adding in larger amounts of liquid.
To decorate this coffee cake I have kept it simple with a silky coffee buttercream to complement the coffee sponge, and chopped walnuts for an added crunch. Other ways to decorate this cake include adding grated chocolate or toasted pecans. Alternatively you could pair the sponges with another buttercream flavour such as chocolate for a 'mocha' style cake.
Vegan Coffee Cake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
For the cake:
360ml plant-based milk (I used soy)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
375g self-raising flour
300g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp instant coffee
2 tsp vanilla extract
100ml vegetable oil
For the icing:
100g dairy-free butter
300g icing sugar
1 tbsp instant coffee
Handful chopped walnuts
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180°C (or 160 °C fan assisted, like mine) and grease and line three 6'' cake tins - See notes for 8'' cake conversion.
Combine the milk with the apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and set aside for around 10 minutes (this makes vegan 'buttermilk').
Combine all the dry cake ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, making sure there are no lumps.
Add the instant coffee granules to a mug and stir in a little boiling water until fully desolved.
Add the coffee, oil, and vanilla to the 'buttermilk' mixture and stir.
Slowly add the wet mixture into the dry mixture and gently fold until evenly mixed (do not overmix!).
Divide the cake mixture between the three tins, ensuring they are evenly spread and reach all the edges.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.
Whilst the cakes are cooling, mix the butter, icing sugar to make the buttercream icing. Dissolve the instant coffee granules in a little boiling water and mix in with the buttercream. Thin with milk as needed, make sure you only add a little at a time.
Once the sponges are fully cooled, add layers of buttercream between each of the sponges, and spread the remaining coffee buttercream over the outside of the cake.
Decorate with chopped walnuts as desired.
Notes
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
This recipe can also be used to make a 8'' cake with two layers, increase the baking time to 35-40 minutes.
You can also add in chopped walnuts into the cake batter to make a chunky coffee walnut cake.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy baking (and eating) my vegan coffee cake. If you do try any of my recipes I'd love to know how they turn out - tag me on Instagram @josiewalshaw!
Josie xox