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This vegan coffee cake is soft, spongy, moist and packed with coffee flavour. We use a strong espresso coffee to flavour the cake, then we fill it with a delicious hazelnut cream.
It is also a very easy recipe to make with simple ingredients you already have in your pantry. This coffee cake can be eaten with your coffee, but it's also delicious on its own, as a breakfast treat, after a meal or as an afternoon snack.
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I know that some of you, depending on where you live, might think of a coffee cake as a cake that is eaten along side your coffee. While our vegan coffee cake is delicious with coffee, we actually follow the Italian recipe for coffee cake, and in Italy a coffee cake is a cake with coffee flavour.
To give it the coffee flavour we use real espresso coffee, but you can, of course, use instant coffee. Also, we fill the cake with a delicious hazelnut cream that goes perfectly well with the coffee flavour. If you want you can change the filling with any other chocolate spread or vegan custard of your choice.
Ingredients & Substitutions
For the cake
- Flour: you can use all-purpose flour, bread flour, whole-wheat flour, and spelt flour.
- Sugar: we used plain white sugar. You can replace it with brown sugar, coconut sugar, or any other granulated sugar.
- Coffee: we used real coffee, made with Espresso beans in an Italian moka. You can use any strong black coffee. Alternatively, you can replace it with 3 tbsp of instant coffee dissolved in 280g (1.2 cups) of hot water.
- Plant milk: we use soy, any will work.
- Vegetable oil: we used sunflower oil. You can replace it with any vegetable oil that has a mild flavour. I do not recommend coconut oil or olive oil.
- Baking powder: you can replace it with cream of tartar.
For the filling
- Hazelnuts: whole and peeled. Not salted.
- Plant milk: we used soy, any plant milk will work.
- Sugar: we used white sugar, but any sugar will work.
- Cornstarch: this is used to thicken the cream. We do not recommend replacing this ingredient. If you are allergic you could use potato starch instead.
Note that if you don't want to make the hazelnut filling, you could replace it with a store-bought vegan chocolate spread or vegan hazelnut spread. Alternatively, you could also replace it with one of our delicious vegan custards: the best for this cake are pistachio custard, chocolate custard, or coffee custard.
Equipment
- Blender: you'll need this to make the hazelnut cream so it's best if you have a good one.
- Springform pan (the one that opens on the side): we used a 9 inch pan (23 - 24 cm).
How to scale this recipe?
This recipe is easy to scale. 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 |
How to scale cooking time?
The cooking time suggested in this recipe is for a springform pan that is 9 inches (23-24 cm) in diameter. Depending on the size of your springform pan, you might need to adjust temperature and cooking time.
Smaller springform pan: if you use a smaller springform pan (less than 9 inches / 23-24 cm), keep the same temperature but bake for shorter time. About 5 minutes less per inch. Always check with a toothpick if the cake is fully baked inside.
Bigger springform pan: if you use a bigger springform pan (more than 9 inches / 23-24 cm), you need to reduce the temperature and increase the baking time. My advice is to bake at 170C / 338F for the first 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 160C / 320F until your cake is fully baked inside. Always check with a toothpick if the cake is fully baked inside.
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 centre of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean and dry it means that you cake is ready. If the toothpick comes out wet, then bake for a few minutes longer, then check again.
Mistakes I made
- I did not put in the oven fast enough: the first time I made this cake I forgot to preheat the oven and to oil the cake pan before hand. That means that over 20 minutes passed from the moment I added the baking powder to the moment I put the cake in the oven.
And that's super bad because the baking powder will lose its effect. Bake the cake immediately after you add the baking powder to get the best results. That means, preheat the oven as step 1, and grease your cake pan as step 2.
Tips
- Over-mixing is a problem: 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 some time 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.
FAQ
Yes. In fact 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 advice you to cook the different layers in different cake pans. Adding more batter to the same cake pan will be difficult to cook properly.
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.
Variations
You can easily change the filling of this cake to a chocolate custard, pistachio custard, or for an even more full coffee flavour, a coffee custard.
If you are looking for other similar cakes, check out our:
They are all vegan, easy and delicious!
Recipe
Vegan coffee flavoured cake with hazelnut filling
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 coffee cake
- 400 g (2.5 cups) flour bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 230 g (1.1 cups) sugar
- 280 g (1.2 cups) strong espresso coffee or 3 tbsp of instant coffee dissolved in 280g (1.2 cups) of hot water.
- 100 g (0.4 cups) soy milk or any other plant-milk
- 60 g (4.5 tbsp) sunflower oil or any other vegetable oil
- 16 g (1 tbsp) baking powder
For the hazelnut cream
- 130 g (1 cup) hazelnuts
- 300 g (1.3 cups) soy milk or any other plant milk
- 45 g (3 tbsp) sugar
- 15 g (2 tbsp) cornstarch or double it to get a thick custard
Instructions
For the coffee cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F. Prepare your springform pan (the one one that opens on the side) by oiling it and dusting it with flour.
- Make the coffee. Strong espresso is best to give flavour. Alternatively, you can dissolve 3 tbsp of instant coffee into 280g (1.2 cups) of hot water.Then in a bowl, add coffee, sugar, soy milk, oil and mix well with a spatula. Sift in the flour and the baking powder and mix with a spatula. Break the biggest lumps but 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 180C / 350F for 45-50 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the cake, 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. Keep the oven turned on.
For the hazelnut cream
- Toast the hazelnuts in the oven at 180C / 350F 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 custard. It should take about 1 minute. Let it cool down before adding to the cake.
Build the cake
- With a serrated knife, cut the cake in half. Then add the hazelnut filling 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, slice and serve. My advice is to wait a couple of hours before eating it. The day after will taste even better.
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Let us know in the comments if you liked this recipe. Or take a picture of your creation and tag us on instagram @Italiaplantbased.
Vanya Sharma
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.
Nico
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 🙂