By Emma Wikler April 5, 2022 Recipes 0 Comments

Coffee Cake Recipe: Easier than Pouring Water in Carafe

Tricks We All Need
Should I Use Instant Coffee Sachets or Fresh Coffee in Coffee Cake Recipe?
Can I Use Coffee Beans?
Can I Use Decaf Coffee?
Which One Is the Most Suitable Flour for Coffee Cake Recipe?
Can I Freeze My Coffee Cake?
Easiest Coffee Cake Recipe Ever!
Ingredients
Method and Tricks
Assembling
Nutritional Information
More Measurements
For Sponge
For the Buttercream
For Sponge
For the Buttercream
Imagination is the Limit for This Coffee Cake Recipe

Coffee cake recipe, that is easy to bake and packed with flavors, will brighten any weekend evening. I dread baking cakes that require a lot of beating and measuring. This coffee cake recipe does not require tons of beating. It is simple, loaded with flavors, and definitely a showstopper of any evening.

Tricks We All Need

Before we start, here are a few tips that can boost the flavor and texture of any cake, any day.

After mixing all ingredients, always leave the batter for 15 minutes minimum. This is the time when all ingredients get to know each other, and little chemical reactions take place that reward you with a perfect cake when you open the oven.
When the recipe says room temperature, it has to be room temperature. For eggs, you can put them in warm water for 10 minutes. For other ingredients, you can use microwave.
Espresso is the only kind of coffee that I use in coffee cake recipes and chocolate cakes.
There are alternatives to baking paper, but the texture you get with baking paper is unmatchable. If you do not have parchment paper, then you can use the thin brown paper too.
When you insert the knife to check if the cake is done, it should have a few small crumbs attached. Turn off the heat, and leave cake in oven. After 8-10 minutes, take out the cake carefully and leave it on counter, covered with a muslin cloth to bring it at room temperature.

Coffee cakes are tricky. There have been times when my coffee cakes lacked the flavor or aftertaste of coffee. The coffee cake recipe I have given here is foolproof, and your cake will turn out amazing every time.

Should I Use Instant Coffee Sachets or Fresh Coffee in Coffee Cake Recipe?

I have tried fresh coffee and instant coffee sachets. When you brew fresh coffee using coffee beans or instant coffee, you have to add a lot of liquid to the cake. It can alter the texture of your coffee cake. It will also leave a bland and weak aftertaste.

I prefer grinding instant coffee granules into powder and adding them directly to the cake batter. You can use the same trick for buttercream. For fresh cream, mix the powdered granules in very little milk, not more than half a teaspoon and add it to fresh cream.

Can I Use Coffee Beans?

Yes, you can use roasted coffee beans. Grind them into a fine powder and use them in your coffee cake.

Can I Use Decaf Coffee?

I have tried baking coffee cake with regular instant coffee and decaf coffee. The flavor, texture, aroma and aftertaste of both were same.

Which One Is the Most Suitable Flour for Coffee Cake Recipe?

You can use self-raising flour or make a mixture of plain flour and baking powder. For every 200 grams of plain flour, you need 10 grams of baking powder. The total is 210 grams. This means that you will need 210 grams of self-raising flour to replace plain flour and baking powder mix.

Can I Freeze My Coffee Cake?

Yes, you can. If you want to bake a large batch, here are the steps you need to follow to freeze the cakes.

After baking, remove the cakes from cake pan and put them on cooling grill. Cover with a soft cloth and wait until they are at room temperature.
Use cling film to wrap each cake individually.
Put them in freezer separately. Do not stack the cakes in freezer.
You can also put the wrapped cakes in Tupperware before putting in the freezer.
To use the frozen cake, take them out of freezer. Put on the counter for at least one hour. Then remove the cling film carefully. Gently press and see if the cake bounces back. If it does not bounce back or feels hard, then give it more time to thaw.
Frozen coffee cake is good to use within a month.
An ideal way is to mark the wrapped cakes with the date of baking.
Always decorate the cake after fully defrosting it.

Easiest Coffee Cake Recipe Ever!

This recipe is for 4 layers of 20cm round cake. On books, this cake can serve 20 people. But it is so delicious, you may finish it all and forget “sharing is caring”.

Ingredients

I have used US cup size and US ounce here.

To make the sponge, you will need:

Instant coffee 6 tbsp (grind into a powder)
Light brown sugar 440 grams
Room temperature butter 440 grams
Plain flour 400 grams
Baking powder 20 grams
Room temperature medium eggs 8
Warm milk 4 tbsp
A pinch salt

To make buttercream, you need the following ingredients.

Room temperature butter 400 grams
Icing sugar 800 grams
Instant coffee granules (grind into a fine powder) 16 tbsp
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
Hot but not boiling water 8 tsp
Warm milk 2 tsp
A pinch of salt (grind with coffee)

Method and Tricks

To make the coffee sponge:

Set your oven to preheat at 150 degrees C.
Take 4 round pans of 20cm. Grease the base of pans with a little butter and line with parchment paper.
Put all dry ingredients other than coffee in a large bowl. Mix them and set aside.
Now put butter, milk and sugar in a blender and blend for a minute. Add eggs one by one and keep blending. You can do this process with an electric beater also.
Put the wet ingredients in dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula. If you are using electric beater, then beat for 2-3 minutes only.
Divide the batter carefully into all pans, and bake for 30 minutes.
Now check with a skewer. It should have a few crumbs of cake. Turn off the heat and leave the cakes in oven for 5 minutes. Then take out and put on cooling rack. Cover with a thin cloth.

To make the coffee buttercream topping:

Mix 16 tbsp of coffee with 4 tsp water. Leave remaining water to use later. Set aside to bring it at room temperature.
Put butter and icing sugar in a large bowl and beat on low speed until butter looks smooth. Sugar will not fully mix at this point.
Now add vanilla extract and beat for 30 seconds only.
Add a teaspoon of coffee and beat for 1 minute. Add another teaspoon of coffee and beat for 30 seconds. Continue until all coffee is finished.
Now, check the buttercream. Rub a little buttercream between your index finger and thumb. If you feel sugar granules, add a tsp of water and beat for 30 second. Check again, if you feel sugar between your fingers, then add another tsp of water. Continue until buttercream is smooth.

If you want to freeze the cake, you can do it at this point. Wrap the sponge with cling film and put in the freezer. You can freeze the buttercream separately. Just thaw the buttercream completely and beat for 3-4 minutes with little milk before using.

Assembling

Mix a tsp of instant coffee with 8 tsp water.
Put 1 layer of sponge cake on decorating table.
Brush instant coffee and water mixture gently on the sponge.
Spread 1/4^th of the buttercream evenly.
Put the second layer, brush with coffee, and spread 1/4^th of buttercream.
Continue with rest of the layers.
For final layer, you can do crumb coat on the top only and decorate the cake your way.

The small cake in picture is decorated with fresh cream and raspberry jam. You can add dry coconut flakes or sea salt too.

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and serve.

Nutritional Information

All nutritional information provided here is based on approximate values.

More Measurements

If you are using a 9-inch round pan, these are the measurements of ingredients you will need for one layer.

For Sponge

Plain flour 150 grams
Baking powder 1 and 3/4^th tsp
Coffee granules 7 tsp (grind into powder)
Room temperature medium eggs 3
A pinch salt
Light brown sugar 165 grams
Room temperature butter 165 grams
Milk 1 and ½ tsp

For Buttercream

Instant coffee 5 tsp (Grind into fine powder)
Room temperature butter 130 grams
Icing sugar 260 grams
Hot water 2 and ½ tsp
Vanilla extract 1/4^th tsp

If you are using 9×9-inch square pan, these are the measurements of ingredients you will need for one layer.

For the Sponge

Plain flour 150 grams
Baking powder 1 and 3/4^th tsp
Coffee granules 7 tsp (grind into powder)
Room temperature medium eggs 3
A pinch salt
Light brown sugar 165 grams
Room temperature butter 165 grams
Milk 1 and ½ tsp

For the Buttercream

Room temperature butter 165 grams
Icing sugar 330 grams
Instant coffee 6 and ½ tsp (grind into fine powder)
Hot water 3 tsp
Vanilla extract ½ tsp

Imagination is the Limit for This Coffee Cake Recipe

You can boost the flavors of this coffee cake recipe with some extra toppings, like chocolate chips or chopped walnuts. Sprinkle some sea salt, or icing sugar, or cinnamon sugar, whatever you like. Chopped pecan nuts go really well with this coffee cake. You can add some in the batter too.

You can replace buttercream with Lotus Biscoff spread, or just plain cream and some berries of choice.

With just one simple recipe, you can excite every weekend in a different way. Enjoy the ultimate coffee cake recipe with a cup of your favorite coffee.