This vegan coffee cake is soft, spongy, moist, and packed with coffee flavor. And if you like, you can even fill it with a layer of coffee custard or with homemade hazelnut cream.
It is also a very easy recipe to make with simple ingredients you already have in your pantry.
Check out our best plant-based dessert recipes!
What to expect
Depending on where you live you might think of a coffee cake as a cake that is eaten alongside your coffee or of a cake that is coffee flavored. While our vegan coffee cake is delicious with coffee, it’s also a cake with coffee flavor.
To give the cake the coffee flavor we use strong Italian coffee, but you can also use instant coffee. Also, we tried this cake with three different fillings and they are all delicious.
Pick the one you like the most: one is a delicious hazelnut cream that goes perfectly well with the coffee flavor. The other is our vegan coffee custard, a recipe that is extremely easy to make and also delicious.
Thirdly, you can soften the coffee flavor by making a vegan custard filling. In some cases, this might be a more kid-friendly version.
This vegan coffee cake can be eaten with your coffee, but it’s also delicious on its own, as a breakfast treat, as a plant–based dessert, or as an afternoon snack. You can also serve it without filling.
Ingredients and substitutions
For the cake
- Flour: you can use all-purpose flour, bread flour, whole-wheat flour, or spelt flour. For a gluten-free version, use a store-bought gluten-free flour mix for cakes.
- Sugar: we use plain white sugar or unrefined brown sugar. You can replace it with coconut sugar, or any other granulated sugar.
- Coffee: we use real coffee, made with Espresso beans in an Italian Moka. You can use any strong black coffee. Alternatively, you can replace it with 3 tablespoons of instant coffee dissolved in 1 cup (250 grams) of hot water.
- Plant milk: we use soy milk, any other plant milk will work.
- Vegetable oil: we used sunflower oil. You can replace it with any vegetable oil that has a mild flavor. You can even use melted vegan butter if you like.
- Baking powder: you can replace it with a cream of tartar.
For the hazelnut cream filling
- Hazelnuts: whole and peeled. Not salted.
- Plant milk: we use soy milk, any plant milk will work.
- Sugar: we used brown sugar, but any sugar will work.
- Cornstarch: This is used to thicken the cream. We do not recommend replacing this ingredient, but if you are allergic you could use potato starch instead.
For the coffee custard
- Coffee: strong black coffee.
- Plant milk: we use soy but other types work well too.
- Sugar: white or brown.
- Cornstarch: to thicken the custard.
Instructions
For the coffee cake
Preheat the oven to 340F or 170C. Prepare your springform pan by oiling it and dusting it with flour.
Make the coffee. Either strong espresso or you can dissolve 3 tablespoons of instant coffee into 1 cup of hot water.
Then in a bowl, add coffee, sugar, soy milk, and oil and mix well with a spatula.
Sift in flour and baking powder and mix with a hand mixer or with a whisk for a few seconds. Don’t over-mix the batter. Over-mixing will result in a dense, heavier cake.
Transfer the cake batter to the springform pan and bake in the oven at 340F or 170C for 40 to 50 minutes.
To check doneness Insert a toothpick in the cake at the 40 min mark, if it comes out dry, then the cake is ready.
Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool down for at least 30 minutes on a cooling rack.
You can either serve the cake as is or fill it with our vegan coffee custard (see recipe link in the notes) or with a hazelnut cream filling.
For the coffee custard filling
In a pot off the heat, add plant milk, sugar, cornstarch, and coffee. Stir well with a whisk until all the lumps of the cornstarch are gone.
Bring the pot on the heat, set it on low, and stir continuously until the liquid thickens into a creamy custard. It can take between 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the quantities.
For the hazelnut cream filling
Toast the hazelnuts in the oven at 360F or 180C for 8 minutes. Then blend them at high speed together with the soy milk. Blend for at least 3 minutes. The liquid should be as smooth as possible.
In a saucepan, off the heat, add the blended hazelnut milk, sugar, and cornstarch, and whisk until there are no lumps.
On medium heat, cook the liquid while stirring until it thickens into a smooth hazelnut cream. It should take about 1 minute. Let it cool down before adding it to the cake.
How to fill the vegan coffee cake
Make the coffee syrup to moisten the cake
This step is optional but I really recommended it for two reasons:
- The coffee syrup will keep the vegan coffee cake soft and moist.
- The coffee syrup will add even more coffee flavor to the cake.
To a bowl, add 1/3 cup of coffee and about 2 tablespoons of sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.
Cut the coffee cake open and apply syrup
With a serrated knife, cut the cake in half. With a spoon apply the coffee syrup, evenly, to the base layer of the cake.
Then add the hazelnut cream filling or the vegan coffee custard onto the base layer, spread with a spoon, and cover with the top layer.
If you like you can sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar, then slice and serve. My advice is to wait a couple of hours before eating it. The day after will taste even better.
Serving suggestions
- Change the filling: to a chocolate custard, pistachio custard, or for an even more full coffee flavor, a coffee custard. If you wanna neutralize the coffee flavor, or you’re serving the cake to children that are not used to coffee, try this vanilla custard instead.
- Serve with fresh fruit: strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries are perfect and colorful pairings for this cake.
PSST! If you’re also a big fan of vegan Italian recipes, we hear you! If we missed one of your favorite Italian recipes on our site, let us know in the comments below. Comments and ratings help us improve our content, so leave us a note below if you like what we do ❤️
How to scale this recipe?
Easy! We calculated the scaling number for you. Pick the springform pan that you want to use for your cake, then multiply all the ingredients in our recipe box by the scaling number in this table.
| Springform pan size | Scaling Number |
|---|---|
| 4 inch (10 cm) | 0.22 |
| 5 inch (13 cm) | 0.31 |
| 6 inch (15 cm) | 0.44 |
| 7 inch (18 cm) | 0.60 |
| 8 inch (20 cm) | 0.79 |
| 9 inch (23 cm) | 1 |
| 10 inch (25 cm) | 1.23 |
| 11 inch (28 cm) | 1.5 |
How do I know if my cake is fully baked?
Depending on the type of oven, type of milk, and type of flour, your cake will take more or less time to cook than our cake.
For this reason, when baking ANY cake, you should always check the core of the cake with a clean toothpick or skewer before you take your cake out of the oven.
To do that, just insert the toothpick or the skewer in the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean and dry it means that your cake is ready. If the toothpick comes out wet, then bake for a few minutes longer, then check again.
Tips
- Don’t over-mix the batter: at least with vegan cakes, you should try not to over-mix the batter because mixing too much will activate the gluten in the flour, which in turn will make the cake heavier. It’s a fine balance between breaking the lumps without over-mixing the batter.
- Wait sometime before eating it: this vegan coffee cake tastes better a few hours after it’s made, and even better the day after. This is because the coffee aroma, the sugar, and the hazelnut have time to come together and intensify.
Questions
Yes. This cake is best served 3 to 4 hours after it’s made, and it tastes even better the day after.
Yes. You can scale the recipe and you can make a taller cake. However, I would advise you to cook the different layers in different cake pans. Adding more batter to the same cake pan will be difficult to cook properly.
Similar recipes
- Coffee mousse
- Easy vegan chocolate cake
- Vegan lemon cake with lemon curd
- Vegan vanilla cake
- Soft orange curd cake
- Easy orange cake with orange curd filling
- Carrot and orange cake
- Coconut birthday cake
- 7-ingredient vegan apple cake
Do you have a favorite plant-based dessert that we haven’t made yet? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear!
Storage
To keep the cake soft and moist keep it in a food-grade plastic bag. You can keep it for up to 4 days in the refrigerator or in a corner of your kitchen out of the sunlight.
You can also freeze the cake for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator till soft. You can warm it up for a few seconds in the microwave if you like.
For many more easy dessert ideas, check out our desserts category page.
Vegan Coffee Cake
Equipment
- Blender for the hazelnut filling
- Springform pan (the one that opens on the side): we used a 9 inch pan (23 – 24 cm).
Ingredients
For the vegan coffee cake
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour or whole-wheat
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup strong espresso coffee or 3 tbsp of instant coffee dissolved in 1 cup (240 grams) of hot water.
- ⅓ cup soy milk or any other plant-milk
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil canola, sunflower, or other
- 1 tablespoons baking powder or cream of tartar
For the coffee syrup
- ⅓ cup coffee
- 2 tablespoons sugar
For the hazelnut cream filling
- ¾ cup hazelnuts
- 1 cup soy milk or any other plant milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch double it to get a thicker cream
For the coffee custard filling
- 1 cup coffee strong
- 2 cups plant milk soy, almond, oats or other
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ cup cornstarch
Instructions
For the coffee cake
- Preheat the oven to 340F or 170C. Prepare your springform pan by oiling it and dusting it with flour.
- Make the coffee. Either strong espresso or you can dissolve 3 tablespoons of instant coffee into 1 cup of hot water.Then in a bowl, add coffee, sugar, soy milk, oil and mix well with a spatula. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix with a hand mixer or with a whisk for a few seconds.Don't over-mix the batter. Over-mixing will result in a dense, heavier cake.
- Transfer the cake batter into the springform pan and bake in the oven at 340F or 170C for 40 to 50 minutes. To check doneness Insert a toothpick in the cake at the 40 min mark, if it comes out dry, then the cake is ready.
- Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool down for at least 30 minutes on a cooling rack. You can either serve the cake like as is, or fill it with our vegan coffee custard (see recipe link in the notes) or with a hazelnut cream filling.
For the hazelnut cream filling
- Toast the hazelnuts in the oven at 360F or 180C for 8 minutes. Then blend them at high speed together with the soy milk. Blend for at least 3 minutes. The liquid should be as smooth as possible.
- In a sauce pan, off the heat, add the blended hazelnut-milk, sugar, and cornstarch and whisk until there are no lumps.
- On medium heat, cook the liquid while stirring until it thickens into a smooth hazelnut cream. It should take about 1 minute. Let it cool down before adding to the cake.
For the vegan custard filling
How to fill the cake
- Make the coffee syrup: to a bowl add coffee and sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.
- With a serrated knife, cut the cake in half. With a spoon apply the coffee syrup, evenly, on the base layer of the cake.
- Then add the hazelnut cream filling or the vegan coffee custard onto the base layer, spread with a spoon, and cover with the top layer.
- If you like you can sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar, then slice and serve. My advice is to wait a couple of hours before eating it. The day after will taste even better.
Notes
Nutrition
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Love this recipe, fluffy cake packed with coffee flavour. I used Coffee custard for filling which was yum.
My cake had a faint soda bitterness , perhaps because of the brand I get here in India.
Hi Vanya, thanks for your message, so happy you liked the cake. Yes, I think it could be the baking powder. The one we use leaves no soda flavour, but there could be some that have some soda aftertaste 🙂