Coffee Vanilla Cake Recipe

Hello lovely people! If you have watched my Wine Barrel Cake video or read it, you will know I used coffee vanilla cake. I noticed that when most people think about coffee cake, they think about cake that accompanies coffee well, but when people ask me for layered cakes with coffee cake, this is the type of cake I will always make. It’s basically a vanilla cake with coffee flavour added into it.

Whenever I make this cake, I use coffee in the actual cake, and then I use coffee-flavoured syrup, and coffee-flavoured buttercream… a lot of coffee, I know. I love this cake because the bitterness from the coffee offsets the sweetness of the cakes (but they’re not too sweet I promise!!) and adds a little depth of flavour to the vanilla cakes. Also, the buttercream always reminds me of coffee crisp chocolate bars… yumm. In a way, it’s my cheat version of making opera cake, just add some chocolate ganache and you’re almost there!

Don’t forget to brush your cakes with coffee-flavoured simple syrup (a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water boiled until the sugar dissolves (1 used about 1/2 cup sugar and water each, with 1 tsp instant coffee dissolved into it), and decorate using Italian Meringue Buttercream flavoured to taste, with coffee extract (I used about 1 tbsp, or 2 tsp instant coffee and 1 tsp hot water).

Without further ado, here is my recipe for some delicious coffee vanilla cake.

Coffee Vanilla Cake

Time: prep 20, bake 35-45
Difficulty: easy
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This recipe makes 2 x 8″ round cakes

Ingredients

250g (1 cup) soft butter
440g (2-1/4 cup) sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
385g (3 cups) flour
15g (1 tbsp) baking powder
5g (1 tsp) salt
275mL (1-1/8 cup) milk
5mL (1 tsp) vanilla extract
15mL (1 tbsp) coffee extract (2 tsp instant coffee 1 tsp hot water) or a shot of espresso

Method

Grease your cake pans with butter and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
Preheat your oven to 180C/350F
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream your butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
Add in your eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom of the bowl between mixing. Beat on high speed until pale and fluffy.
Sift and whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
Combine milk, vanilla, and coffee.
Add in half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix on low speed until some of the flour is absorbed into the butter (about 15 seconds)
Add in all the wet ingredients, and mix on low speed for another 15 seconds.
Add in all the remaining dry ingredients, first mixing on low speed until most of the dry ingredients have absorbed most of the wet ingredients. Turn your mixer on high speed for 15 seconds to quickly incorporate all the ingredients and create a smooth batter.
Take the bowl off the stand mixer and hand-fold any remaining bits of butter at the bottom of the bowl.
Divide the batter evenly between your cake pans and bake for 35-45 or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool and decorate using Italian Meringue Buttercream flavoured to taste with coffee extract (I used about 1 tbsp).
enjoy!!!