I just found out a super surprising (to me anyway!) fact about coffee cake. Apparently, folks in America often call something a coffee cake when it’s meant to be eaten along with coffee. It doesn’t necessarily have any coffee in it.
Whereas in the UK (and South Africa, where I’m from), a coffee cake is a cake flavored with coffee.
So when I made my vegan coffee cupcakes I had no idea about this little factoid!
I found it out when I went hunting for coffee cake recipes to look for inspiration for this recipe and found a whole heap of cakes called ‘coffee cakes’ that had absolutely no coffee in them. I was totally befuddled until wikipedia helped me out!
So this vegan coffee cake, has some coffee in it. Just in case you were thinking it’s one of those ‘eat with my coffee’ kind of cakes not flavored with coffee at all.
This isn’t one of those. But you definitely CAN eat this with your coffee and I think the coffee flavor in this is just fabulous!
The coffee flavor
I was vaguely considering going the route of using filter coffee in this, but decided against it because I’ve tried that before in a cake and the flavor doesn’t come through strongly enough.
So this coffee cake has 3 tablespoons of instant coffee powder, and the flavor is there, it’s sooo there.
And this way you don’t even have to put on a pot of coffee, you just have to spoon it in, it’s too easy.
The frosting!
And then how about that frosting! I first tried a kahlua frosting when I was trying to make a kahlua cake. The frosting was a huge success, the cake was not.
I simply could not get that kahlua cake to hold together, it just broke up. I usually don’t have any problems with my cakes binding, so I had to conclude it was the kahlua that was causing the issue.
The only thing I could find out about it online was that adding alcohol to cakes can change their texture. I couldn’t find a single bit of info about how to solve that issue, as clearly the way it was changing my cakes texture was to make it crumble!
Anyway we had boozy cake crumble which was very tasty, but since I couldn’t figure that one out, that recipe won’t be finding it’s way to the blog, not unless I can find a way to fix it that is (any insights, I’m all ears)!
But the frosting – well it was such a winner – I knew I had to use it for another cake. So here it is!
This kahlua frosting is a perfect pairing with this vegan coffee cake.
And then to decorate, melted chocolate drizzled everywhere and chocolate chips sprinkled on top of that!
The look is decadent and the taste is magnificent!
Serve it with a cup of coffee (or tea) and enjoy the deliciousness of this very coffee flavored vegan cake!
You will love this vegan coffee cake, with kahlua frosting – let’s not forget that super nb part! It is:
- Moist
- Rich
- Decadent
- Coffee Flavored
- Topped with kahlua frosting and chocolate
- Insanely good!
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where it will last for up to a week!
More vegan cakes..
We have so much vegan cake deliciousness going on at this blog, you are so in the right place if cakes are your thing!
Our classic vegan chocolate sponge cake is also a 7-inch 2 layer cake like this coffee cake. If you’re in the market for an 8 or 9-inch chocolate cake then the best vegan chocolate cake is the one for you. And we were not being arrogant at all when we named it that. 
Our vegan vanilla cake is topped with a vanilla frosting and is a hugely popular recipe on this blog with heaps of 5* reviews. That one is also a 7-inch beauty, if you want an 8-inch vanilla cake, check out our vegan white cake recipe.
Our vegan lemon cake is pure lemon perfection in two 8-inch layers and our vegan lemon pound cake has just enough lemon drizzle on top to send you to lemon heaven!
If you’re all about that banana flavor then our vegan banana cake will be right up your street. This is a sheet cake version with a gorgeous lemon frosting and decorated with crushed walnuts.
Our vegan carrot cake is another hugely popular recipe that never disappoints!
So let us know what you think of this vegan coffee cake! Trying it soon? Let us know! Please also rate the recipe it is so helpful.
Oh, and while you’re here, don’t forget to sign up to our email list, we’ll send you an awesome free recipe book AND you’ll stay updated with all our latest recipes!
Vegan Coffee Cake with Kahlua Frosting
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 10
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Insanely delicious vegan coffee cake with kahlua frosting. This isn’t just a cake to eat with your coffee, this is fabulously coffee flavored cake! And it’s vegan, and rich and decadent!
Ingredients
For the Coffee Cake:
- 2 cups (250g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (200g) Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp Instant Coffee Powder
- 2 Tbsp Hot Water
- 1 cup (240ml) Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Canola Oil*
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Flax Egg
For the Kahlua Frosting:
- 4 cups (480g) Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
- 1/4 cup (56g) Vegan Butter
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Kahlua
- 1 Tbsp Instant Coffee Powder
- 1–2 Tbsp Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing 1 Tbsp of ground flaxseed with 3 Tbsp of hot water from the kettle. Allow to sit for a minute and become gloopy.
- Then mix the instant coffee with 2 Tbsp of hot water from the kettle into a thick paste. Mix this with the soy milk and add to the mixing bowl along with the vanilla, oil, apple cider vinegar and flax egg.
- Whisk with a hand whisk briefly till smooth. Don’t overmix.
- Spray two 7 inch cake tins with non-stick spray and then place a circle of parchment paper at the base of each.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake tins.
- Place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Place the cakes onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter and kahlua into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix the coffee powder with 1 Tbsp soy milk and the vanilla and form it into a paste before adding it in. Start mixing at low speed, gradually increase speed until it’s thick and smooth. You may or not need the extra Tbsp of soy milk, just use as little as needed so that your frosting is very thick, but still spreadable.
- Frost the cakes when cooled and decorate with melted chocolate drizzle and chocolate chips (optional).
Notes
*For best results always weigh your flour.
*You can use any vegetable oil in this recipe. I have successfully made it with both canola oil and extra virgin olive oil but any vegetable oil should work fine. If you want to use coconut oil then make sure it is melted first.
*Nutritional information is for 1 slice of 10 including frosting but excluding extra chocolate decoration.
*Recipe adapted from our Vegan Coffee Cupcakes.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 10)
- Calories: 483
- Sugar: 70.4g
- Sodium: 301mg
- Fat: 10.7g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5g
- Carbohydrates: 93g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 3.8g
Keywords: vegan coffee cake
Moist, fluffy, scrumptious vegan cake
★★★★★
Liquor in cakes. The alcohol (aka liquid) usually bakes off leaving the flavourings of the liquor behind, usually in a very subtle way (at times imperceptable). Any liquor I have ever put into cakes is after they have cooled down. Triffles – in the sponge once it is cooled. Fruit cakes – with rum poured over and left for weeks. Even this real coffee cake you could pour khalua on after it was cooked. And skip tbe icing if you didn’t want tbe sugar icing. You may have to cook just a little drier so you don’t end up with a soggy cake. You could also make a syrup infused with liquor and pour over the cake or spoon between cake layer, again once cooled (ie raspberry syrup with vodka – again don’t cook all the luquor off)
Thanks for sharing your recipes, sure helps out those of us that have little to no time to perfect a recipe.
★★★★
Thanks Glynis, great ideas there! I think this cake would be awesome served with kahlua poured over it, if you didn’t want a sweet frosting. 🙂
Best vegan cake I’ve made so far. Moist and absolutely delicious sponge. I used instant espresso powder which resulted in a lovely dark colour. I also used less of the icing by piping on star shaped blobs in the middle of the cake and on top rather than completely covering. Recommend this to reduce sweetness slightly and save a few calories if that matters. I also didn’t bother with the chocolate as I didn’t want to mask the coffee flavour at all. Thanks for the recipe. Have had a few failures in vegan baking but this has reinspired me.
★★★★★
Woohoo! That is brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing and your review! 🙂
Hi Alison, how big was the spring form you used? Will I be okay making a 26cm form with it?
★★★★★
I used 7 inch cake tins. Which is a fair bit smaller, maybe you’d like to make a single layer cake with your size cake tin, but remember it will likely affect baking time, not sure how much though. All the best!
I’d like to try this recipe for a birthday cake tomorrow but I don’t have any 7″ tins, would you go bigger or smaller? I have 6 or 8″
I think smaller would be great – would just result in a slightly taller cake which would be great! It may affect the baking times and might require a slightly longer baking time but maybe not. I would just check it at the 30 minute mark and see.
This cake was soo good! I made this for my non vegan friends and we all loved it. The cooking time was perfect and the cake came out really moist. I switched out the kaluha for hazelnut liquor and it was delicious! Would definitely make again.
★★★★★
That’s awesome Gabby! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks so much this recipe is amazing my dad who’s a big meat eater even asked to try this when he won’t try anything I make if he knows it’s vegan and he loved it!!
★★★★★
That is wonderful! So glad your dad liked it! 🎉 Thanks for sharing! 🙂
80ml is 1/3 of a cup not half……which should it be?
Thank you for pointing that out! The error has been fixed! It is definitely a 1/3 cup (80ml). Thanks again.
That’s what I used, phew!! It’s for a birthday cake for today. Feels lovely and moist but not much of a rise? Will feed back after it’s been eaten 😂😋👍🏽
I was really optimistic about making this cake, especially seeing good reviews but I made the cake twice and both times came out flat. The first time it didn’t rise at all & was instead a rather nice tasting but flat & slightly rubbery thing (still easily edible) I feared I may have over mixed it as haven’t made “proper” cakes (brownies & cookies are different) for a while.
The second time was only a little better, rising a wee bit more but still half the height that your has (used 2 X 7 inch pans). I was careful to only mix just until wet & dry (pre combined each) ingredients were combined & even bought new baking powder in case the first stuff was older than I thought. Followed the recipe to the T both times so not sure what I was doing wrong seeing how other people had good results? Tastes nice though 🙂 but flat so texture just not right :/
(I didn’t try the frosting)
★★
You mention baking powder in your comment, is this what you used? Because it is supposed to be baking soda (also called bicarbonate of soda in some countries). It’s a different ingredient with different results. If you used baking powder instead, that would explain a lot.
Amazing cake! Utter perfection!
★★★★★
Loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing. I made it for dinner at my brother’s and everyone enjoyed it 🙂
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for posting! 🙂
This cake was soo good! I made this for my family and they loved it. The cake came out really moist and perfect. I also used the kaluha for hazelnut liquor and it was really delicious! I will definitely make it in my next birthday! Thanks a lot.
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear! Thanks so much for posting! 🙂
Is there a substitute I could use for the kahlua? My husband and I do not drink any type of alcohol but love the idea of a coffee cake.
Hi Brenda, yes definitely, you could replace it with something like filter coffee, the exact same amount. I think that would be delicious!
Hi, I just wanted to shine a light on your problem with Kahlua in the cake.
Alcohol prevents gluten formation in cakes and bread, meaning that the cake won’t hold it self together like you mentioned.
Thanks Karl! That makes perfect sense.
With the flour it says 2 cups (250g), but one cup is 250grams. So do you mean one cup or 500 grams?
Thanks,
Katie 🙂
A cup of flour is 125g. A cup of sugar is 200g. A cup of liquid is 240ml. Dry goods don’t weigh the same as they have a different density. Liquid always has the same volume so a cup will always be 240ml. All the measurements on this recipe are correct.
Worked brilliantly,even though I only had 8” tins,there was plenty of mix. Halved the icing as we only used it in the middle,but it was lovely 🙂 best cake recipe I’ve used – thank you!
Awesome CJ! So glad to hear it worked out well in 8″ pans too! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Am now wondering if this mix would
Work in a loaf tin for a more ‘everyday’ cake – is this anything you have tried/think could work? Am thinking it could be a perfect after work pick me up 😉
I think it could work! It would definitely need a longer baking time, and possibly need to be tented with foil to stop it from over-browning during the longer baking time. Our vegan pound cake is done in a loaf pan and the baking time is 60 minutes, but it tends to over-brown so we tent it with foil for the last 20 minutes of baking.
Can I replace flax egg with applesauce?
Sure, should be fine, about 3 Tbsp applesauce.
Wow totally delicious, thanks for the recipe.I used applesauce instead of flax egg and it worked well.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Loraine. 🙂
What would you do if you didn’t want a boozy icing? Want to make this for my friend.
Substitute non-dairy milk for the kahlua.
Help I used extra virgin olive oil but it did not taste good could not even taste the coffee? Where did I go wrong
Hi Suzie, sorry to hear it wasn’t a success. I’m not sure what went wrong. The coffee flavor has always been strong when I make this. If you try it again, be sure to weigh your ingredients and maybe try a different oil. All the best!
This recipe looks great! Will have to put the cake out of reach of the cats this time since it contains coffee and alcohol, because last time when I made your wonderful carrot cake, one of them licked off ALL of the frosting.. 🙃
Could I use applesauce instead of the flax seed, would that make it more moist, or maybe too dense?
Hahaha that’s so funny that one of your cats has a sweet tooth! Mine also have some strange tastes, like Frankie LOVES lettuce! 😂 I definitely think you can use applesauce instead of the flax egg, around 3 Tbsp should be just right. All the best! 🙂
I made it today (with the applesauce) and it came out great!! I altered the frosting a bit, when I tasted it it was too sweet for my liking so I just added some more vegan butter and coffee. It made the texture of the frosting a bit too runny, but it firmed up in the fridge.
★★★★★
Thanks for updating Tamar, so glad it was a success! 🙂