If you’re reading this, chances are you love coffee as much as I do (or you’re here for a coffee loving friend). I don’t know about your city’s coffee situation, but we Portlanders are spoiled when it comes to good coffee. I wouldn’t call myself a coffee connoisseur per se, but I know what a good cup tastes like. So when I set out to configure the perfect coffee layer cake recipe, I wanted to capture the rich and aromatic flavor of the good stuff. The only way to do that is to use rich and aromatic coffee beans in the recipe!
It all starts with a delicious cup of coffee. The best part about this is you can make yourself an extra cup or two for sipping while you start whipping things together. I really love these Blue Bottle Coffee beans, because the combination of Congolese and Ethiopian beans produce a chocolatey aroma with undertones of blueberry and cardamom. Sounds delicious, right? Just keep in mind that whatever beans you choose will flavor the cake, so choose wisely! PS: isn’t it the best coincidence that my cake ended up matching my favorite coffee mug ever?
The texture of the cake is super soft thanks to cake flour (makes for ultra-fluffy cakes!) and a little brown sugar and sour cream for extra moisture. To bring out the richness of the coffee flavor, I’ve paired this coffee layer cake with a vanilla espresso buttercream and a chocolate ganache drip. The hint of chocolate ganache adds the perfect amount of depth to balance out the coffee flavors, and I can’t tell you how much I love the vanilla espresso buttercream. It’s basically my classic vanilla buttercream recipe with instant espresso powder added, but it ended up looking so pretty with the little flecks of espresso and tasting like a dream.
For garnish, I’ve used some chocolate covered espresso beans and these Speculoos cookies from Trader Joe’s ground into crumbs. If you’ve had these yummy cookies before you know they were made for pairing with coffee! They’re crispy caramelized cookies with a spiced cinnamon flavor, making them perfect for coffee dunking (or coffee cake decorating!). And thanks to these flavor choices, I ended up stumbling upon the most delicious snack ever: spread some vanilla espresso buttercream onto a Speculoos cookie, top with another cookie, and eat it like a sandwich. Heaven, y’all.
Whether you need something sweet to add to your brunch table or you just love coffee-flavored things, this cake will make you oh so happy.
Update 2021: I scaled this recipe down to make enough batter for three 6-inch cake pans or two 8-inch cake pans (the most requested sizes). Enjoy!
Coffee Layer Cake With Vanilla Espresso Buttercream
Ingredients
Coffee Layer Cake
- 2 3/4 Cups (290g) cake flour, sifted before measuring*
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
- 3/4 Cup (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 Cup (205g) granulated white sugar
- 1/3 cup (65g) packed brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) strong coffee, room temperature
Vanilla Espresso Buttercream
- 2 cups (452g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 cups (960g) powdered sugar
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp (45ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp instant espresso powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Make The Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a cooking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and a wax paper circle fitted to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans.
- Sift the cake flour and then measure by spooning and leveling it in your measuring cup. Add the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. Combine the whole milk and coffee in a small container and set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the butter for on high for two minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Add in white and brown sugars and continue to mix on high for another two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and sour cream and mix for one minute on high, scraping down the bowl and paddle once more.
- With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the coffee and whole milk mixture and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps. Batter will be slightly thick, but pourable.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans (about 2/3 of the way full) and bake for 35-40 minutes. They’re done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they’re entirely room temperature before applying any frosting.
Make The Vanilla Espresso Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter on med-high until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes), scraping down bowl and paddle a few times in between.
- Add powdered sugar a few cups at a time, scraping down bowl and paddle between intervals. Mix on medium until fully incorporated.
- Turn mixer to low and add vanilla and milk. Mix on medium for one minute. Scrape down bowl and paddle and add the instant espresso powder and salt. Mix for another minute on medium until incorporated.
Assembly
- Torte each layer to desired height. Fill the first layer with vanilla espresso buttercream and place the second layer on top. Fill the second layer with vanilla espresso buttercream before placing the final layer on top. Crumb coat with vanilla espresso buttercream and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to chill before frosting with a final layer of vanilla espresso buttercream.
- Decorate however you wish. I’ve chosen to decorate with a chocolate ganache drip, a few swirls on top with Wilton tip 1M, and garnish with crushed Speculoos cookies and chocolate covered espresso beans.
Notes
Make ahead tip: These cakes can be baked, cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap, and left out at room temperature up to two days ahead of decorating. Unfrosted cake layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to two months before thawing and frosting. The buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip with your stand mixer.
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Did you make this cake? I want to know how you liked it! Let me know in the comments below or tag me on Instagram so I can see your coffee-infused creation!
Hello hello! I’m so excited to make this cake for my niece’s wedding brunch reception – a coffee cake for brunch? Come on now!!- I am wanting to use two 6 inch and two 8 inch cake pans to make a tiered wedding cake, should I double the recipe?
Hi Nancy! Oooh, this cake sounds PERFECT for a brunch wedding reception! Yes – double the recipe for two 6 inch layers + 2 8 inch layers. You’ll technically end up with enough batter for two 6 inch layers and 3 8 inch layers. Cheering you on!
Hey! I was wondering if I was to make this using 10″ pans would I need to double the recipe? (I would be fine with it only being two layers) thanks!
Hi Ashley! Yes – double the recipe for two 10-inch layers.
Hi! We are experiencing stock issues in our town atm and there is no sour cream around! Would Greek yoghurt be ok to use for this recipe?
Hi Anne! Plain yogurt is the best substitute for sour cream in this recipe!
It didn’t have a very rich coffee flavor that I would have liked. I would have added an extra tablespoon of espresso powder, and 1/4 cup milk mixed with 2/3 coffee instead. I recommend making a coffee flavored simple syrup for your cake with coffee and sugar rather than water and sugar. The cake was moist though. And the buttercream is really good. I used 1.5 tbsp instead of just one of the espresso.
OMG! I made this for my mom’s 95th birthday celebration… so delicious… it was such a hit… the vanilla espresso buttercream is to die for. Thank you for all your fantastic recipes.
Would you use the Vanilla Espresso Buttercream or your Coffee Buttercream?
Hi Kathy! I like this recipe with Vanilla Espresso Buttercream, but the Coffee Buttercream would be nice with it too.
Hi Whitney,
Would you be able to post or provide a link to the original recipe that you had with the three 4″ pans? Thanks!
Hi Sue! I never had a version written for four inch pans, but I did have a version for three 8-inch pans! If you want the 8-inch pan version, make 1.5x the recipe (multiply each ingredient by 1.5) to get the original amount. If you’re wanting to know how to make enough for three 4-inch pans, you can half this recipe. Enjoy!
Two questions: 1) I want to use DECAF espresso but can only find ground; can I use ground decaf espresso, do I need to use a workaround like this DIY espresso powder (https://www.brighteyedbaker.com/diy-espresso-grounds/) or something else instead?
2) You modified the recipe Update 2021: I scaled this recipe down to make enough batter for three 6-inch cake pans or two 8-inch cake pans (the most requested sizes), but it seems the frosting is quite a lot for a 3 – 6″ layer cake. Does it need to be modified?
Thanks very much.
Hi there! You’ll want to use an espresso powder as opposed to ground espresso (that will probably leave some crunch in the batter since the grounds won’t dissolve). I would try that Bright Eyed Baker technique if you can’t find decaf espresso powder – it seems great! And as for the frosting amount, it’s enough to fill, frost, and decorate a triple layer cake. I always like to have a little more for decorating, so I kept that amount the same. If you’d rather make less, you can make 3/4 of the recipe (multiply each ingredient by .75 for the exact amounts).
Actually what I have is decaf espresso capsules (not grounds) and after opening a capsule it looks to be a fine powder already. I will give that a try and hopefully it will work just as well.
https://www.target.com/p/signature-decaf-espresso-roast-lentado-pods-coffee-10ct-good-38-gather-8482/-/A-80786377
Thanks.
Hi Whitney! Love your recipe! What can I use to replace the sour cream?
Hi Jen! I’m so happy to hear you love this recipe! The best substitute for the sour cream is plain greek yogurt.
Absolutely fabulous! My sister will not let a birthday go by without me making this cake for her Thank you so much!!!
That’s amazing, Chloe! I’m so glad this recipe has been a hit!
Going to make the recipe right now for my birthday cake, I do, however, have questions regarding some ingredients.:
Butter: you listed ¾ cup to equal about 85gram. However, ¾ cup = 6 oz= maybe 185 gram? I am thinking the 1 (one) is missing.:)
Eggs: Recipe indicated 3 eggs but in the comments you refer to 5… Can you comment which is correct?
I have made the cake with 6 oz (180ish gram0 butter, and 3 large eggs. they are baking right now in a 7 inch baking pan in my airfryer (325F for about 30 min). I have an oven style small airfrtyer vs the round/egg shaped once. I did invert one of the airfryer trays over the cake to divert the air a bit and to prevent it from browning so fast. The batter tastes sinful.
Hi Ancameni! Thanks so much for catching that about the butter weight. I put an update message on this post (above the recipe) stating that I recently converted this recipe to make enough batter for three 6-inch pans or two 8-inch pans (the most requested sizes). It used to make a lot more batter. In the conversion I made a typo on the butter weight which is now corrected. Everything else in the recipe, including the use of three eggs instead of five, is correct. I’ve never made a cake in an air fryer before but I hope it turned out beautifully!!
Hi Whitney,
I want to brush some coffee flavored simple syrup on the the cake layers. Do you have any recommendations for a recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Manasa! That sounds delicious! I’ve never tried that before so I don’t have a recipe recommendation – I would just google “coffee simple syrup for cakes” and see which recipes look tasty.
Thanks Whitney! I’ll look around. I have another question. I want to make a Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the frosting. From the recipes I’ve seen, they use espresso powder mixed in hot water and cooled to room temperature in the frosting for the coffee flavor. But I think there won’t be any flecks and I really want to look of those tiny flecks. Do you have any suggestions? Can I just add a little bit of espresso powder to SMBC to get that look?
I have actually never made SMBC before, so I’m not sure! I would look around to see if there’s an espresso flavored SMBC recipe and use that in place of the frosting I have here.
Thanks Whitney! I’ll look around and let you know how that goes 🙂
Made this awesome cake for my brother in law. He is a coffee fanatic and he really enjoyed this cake! I really don’t like coffee and I liked this cake a lot. You can’t go wrong with this one.
Yay, Alexandra! I’m so happy to hear that this recipe was a hit for both a coffee lover and a non-coffee lover! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know 🙂
Can I add cocoa powder (natural) to the batter, would I need to adjust any of the other ingredients? Thank you.
Hi Teresa! I’ve never tried that before, so I’m not sure what amount to add or what the end result would be. If you’re looking for a chocolate based coffee cake, I do have this Peppermint Mocha Cake recipe (just omit the mint): https://sugarandsparrow.com/peppermint-mocha-cake-recipe/
Wow this cake turned out amazing!! I added a little more espresso powder to the buttercream because I really loved the coffee flavour. I had so many compliments on the finished product.
Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
So happy to hear that, Samara! Thanks for letting me know!