This decadent vegan Coffee & Walnut Cake is easy to make, and a real showstopper. Light and nutty sponge layers filled with fluffy coffee buttercream.
Mmmmm.... cake alert! I find it hard to resist the temptation to make a slightly-oversized triple layer cake from time to time, and I'm gradually working my way through vegan-ising all the Great British favourites. My Ultimate Vegan Victoria Sponge is one of the most popular recipes on the blog, and if you're looking for a failsafe rich fruit cake, my Ultimate Vegan Christmas Cake recipe is not far behind, (I've just had an e-mail from a reader who is using it as her wedding cake, isn't that lovely?!).
And today I bring you... the Ultimate Vegan Coffee & Walnut Cake. This one is a keeper, I promise. The coffee buttercream is incredibly creamy and light, and the dark, nutty sponge has just the right level of coffee to be a strong flavour without turning bitter.
I made mine a triple-layer because I like BIG cakes with lots of buttercream(!), but if you only have two tins you could either bake two cakes first then the third afterwards, or else make just 2 larger cakes and either use them as they are, or slice them in half to make 4 thinner layers, (oh the decadence!).
This is just the sort of showstopper to casually bring in to the office to share with anyone who has passed comment on your veganism recently, ("so do you just eat a lot of salad then?" - you know the ones!).
❄️ Freezing
Yes! The coffee sponges themselves freeze very well so you can make them ahead of time, (or even batch-cook two at once!). Pop a sheet of greaseproof paper or baking parchment between each layer then wrap the whole lot tightly in foil.
When you need to serve the cake you can just defrost. make the buttercream and layer it up - it is almost impossible to tell that it isn't freshly baked!
Vegan in 15 Cookbook
There are plenty of similarly quick and easy recipes in my new book, ‘Vegan in 15'*.
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⭐️ Reader Testimonials
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "I just wanted to express my appreciation for your wonderful recipe! I made this cake yesterday and was so happy with how it turned out! This cake will now be a regular feature in our household. Lovely recipe, thanks again!!!" Priyam
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Just made this today, my first attempt at making a cake and omg, its amazing! Im so proud to have done this. It's so so good! Thank you! I'll certainly be bookmarking your website and trying many more! 😁" Leigh
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Great cake – have used this recipe a few times (was turning into a post Parkrun classic – now is just a classic )🥇 Not many complaints – the only one being ‘where’s my second slice gone!’" John
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Brilliant recipe... this really worked well, came out perfectly, looked good, tasted delicious, best vegan coffee cake I’ve made. Thank you" Jules
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "The cake is absolutely delicious! Perfect texture and sweetness and so nice and simple to make. Thank you for the recipe and building my confidence as a baker!" Antonia
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📖 Recipe
Ultimate Vegan Coffee & Walnut Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 6 tbsp instant coffee (mixed with 3 tbsp boiling water)
- 600 g self-raising flour
- 360 g caster sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 600 ml soya milk
- 240 ml rapeseed oil (or other flavourless oil)
- 200 g walnuts (use two thirds chopped in the cake batter, and the remaining one third finely chopped for decoration)
For the Buttercream:
- 3 tbsp instant coffee (mixed with 1 ½ tbsp boiling water)
- 250 g dairy-free margarine (at room temperature)
- 640 g icing sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp dairy-free single cream (soya or oat)
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Mix the instant coffee and boiling water to a paste and leave to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (fan) / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4. Grease and line three 23cm / 9 inch cake tins with a circle of baking parchment or greaseproof paper, (slightly smaller or larger tins will be fine!). (If you only have two tins, you could either make two larger layers, or bake two cakes first then clean and re-line one of the tins to bake the third).
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, caster sugar and baking powder). In a jug, mix the wet ingredients (milk, oil and cooled coffee mixture), then add these to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined, then bang the bowl on the work surface to stop the raising agents getting to work too soon.
- Stir in the chopped walnuts, then divide the mixture evenly between the three tins. Tap each tin firmly on the work surface, then bake for 18-22 minutes until an inserted skewer or knife comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, remove the baking parchment and leave to cool completely. Ideally, it is best to leave the fully cooled cakes in an airtight tin or container overnight, to layer with buttercream the following day, (this helps the cakes to soften and stops a crust forming), but if you don't have time, just make sure they are completely cool throughout before starting to layer and decorate them.
For the Buttercream:
- Mix the instant coffee and boiling water to a paste and leave to cool.
- In a food mixer or large bowl with electric whisk/mixer, mix the margarine and icing sugar until fully combined, then add the coffee mixture, salt and cream, and whisk until light and fluffy.
- Roughly divide the buttercream into four in the bowl, and spread a quarter over the bottom layer of the cake. Place the middle layer on top, then spread another quarter over it. Finally, put the top layer in place and spread all the remaining buttercream over the top. Finish with the remaining chopped walnuts.
Nutrition
.I'm linking this recipe with CookBlogShare hosted this week by Hijacked by Twins.
Oh wow this looks amazing! I love coffee and walnut cake and this one looks and sounds out of this world! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Two things I love.. coffee and walnuts .. and you put them in one scrumptious cake 🙂 awesome
Hi Kate,
Thank you for sharing best recipes. I love coffee, any food made with coffee is my favorite choice. While reading this article, water came to my tongue. I'll definitely make this cake. Thanks again.
That's great, thanks Kathryn x
Would this work with oat milk do you think/have you tried? Thanks
I haven't tried Bryony, but I don't see why it wouldn't work - please let me know how it turns out if you give it a go! Thanks, Kate x
Hello! I gave it a go with oat milk and it came out lovely. Thanks for the recipe! ❤️
I used oat milk and it worked and tasted lovely
Delicious cake!!! Only problem I've had is that the icing split 🙁 Anyone else had this issue?
If buttercream splits add more sifted icing sugar and beat thoroughly. Too much water based flavouring can make it split too
Thank you so much for this recipe!! I made it and it came out beautifully, though I think I will maybe halve the buttercream ingredients next time as I was left with a lot left over, though only did 2 layers instead of 3 so might need it all next time! Long story short, there WILL be a next time, because this was fricken delicious. I made it for mother's day and my whole family (none of them vegan), couldn't get enough of it. Sophie
Ooh one thing actually - my buttercream split slightly and I couldn't get it to come together again no matter how much I whisked. What would you recommend? Thanks again!
Hi Sophie, sorry to hear about the buttercream - that's usually a problem of a bit too much liquid, so try adding some more icing sugar next time until it comes back together. All margarines are different and some contain much more water than others, so that can be quite common. Hope it tasted good anyway! Kate x
Made this and it was great. Added extra baking powder because I only had plain flour, and reduced the sugar by a little to suit my tastes (90g). Also didn’t bother dissolving the coffee, and used powdered coffee (Azera) instead. Thanks for the recipe!
Can I use wholemeal self raising baking powder?
Yes that should work fine - the texture will be a bit different, not as fine, but it should still rise OK.
Fab cake! Made it this morning - icing was a little watery but tasted amazing, thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I was asked to do a vegan wedding cake and thought I was so out of my depth until I found your website. It was the biggest hit! And by far the best cakes I've ever made. I made the coffee as the first tier and your carrot as your second tier. Thank you so much for having a recipe that doesn't use apple cider vinegar.
Thanks Kate, smashed it ! I added a twist on mine and made it a 3 squared layer with coffee cream and thin slice strawberries on bottom 2 layers, but fully covered in coffee cream and walnuts.. also no cream substitute, so just stuck to nutlex spread, icing sugar, coffee and walnuts. loved to send you a picture.
Made this cake for my son in laws birthday and it was amazing, very soft and light and the easiest cake I have ever made. Everyone loved it vegans and non vegans alike.
That's so great to hear - thanks Sandra! One of my favourites. Kx
Does the cake really only need 20 mins? It’s the first ive seen this!
I've just made this cake but haven't assembled it yet. It looks and smells amazing. I don't have three 9 inch tins so I used two. I expected to have to cook it a little longer because of this but found that I had to cook it for twice the recommended time 40 mins. I reduced the heat slightly after 20 mins to prevent the top from burning. I'll post again after tasting!
First time baking with no experience at all and it came out great, so many compliments! Thank you so much. Only thing was the buttercream was quite thin, is this due to it being vegan or can it be thickened?
For cupcakes... Could I make a smaller batch or 12? Will this require less mixture?
First vegan cake I have made and it was so easy to do and the cake was delicious.
Can I make with freshly ground coffee? How much ground coffee to water would you bre? Or will this be too watery? And cause the cake to not rise? I don’t have any instant in at the moment!
You could make very strong coffee from fresh grounds but please make sure you filter out the grounds before putting it in the cake or it will be really gritty! Use 6tbsp of the filtered coffee - but do make it as strong as you can, it needs to be almost syrupy it is so strong, to give enough flavour to the cake. Would really recommend instant if possible, as it has such a concentrated flavour.
This cake came out awesome it's delicious. It was huge though. I think next time I will only make the two tiers. The icing is so yummy. Thank you for sharinf
This cake is BOMB!
Thank you!
I made this cake and I can honestly say it is one of the best vegan cake recipes I have ever made! My whole family love it and I will definitely be making this again! Love it!
Brilliant recipie.. this really worked well, came out perfectly, looked good, tasted delicious, best vegan coffee cake I've made. Thank you
Hello! Thank you for sharing with us the recipe! Could I ask if I could replace self-raising flour with plain flour?
Thank you!
I made this cake both vegan and gluten-free for my son and his fiancée, and it was delicious! So easy to follow the recipe and we all really enjoyed it. it's ten out of ten from me!
Great cake - have used this recipe a few times ( was turning into a post Parkrun classic - now is just a classic )🥇 Not many complaints - the only one being ‘where’s my second slice gone!’
The cake is absolutely delicious! Perfect texture and sweetness and so nice and simple to make. I replaced the caster sugar with light brown sugar and reduced 100ml of soy milk. I also added a teaspoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Thank you for the recipe and building my confidence as a baker! 🙂
Just made this today, my first attempt at making a cake and omg, its amazing! Im so proud to have done this Its so so good! Thank you! Ill certaintly be bookmarking your wesbite and trying many more! 😁
That's so great to hear, thanks Leigh! X
Hello
I just wanted to express my appreciation for your wonderful recipe! I made this cake yesterday as a trial run for a colleagues leaving do (it's her favourite flavour of cake) and was so happy with how the cake turned out! This cake will now be a regular feature in our household. Lovely recipe, thanks again!!!
Fantastic! Glad to hear it - thanks Priyam x
This recipe looks amazing. I'm planning to make it in the coming days for a birthday. I only have two 8 inch tins so was wondering if it'll be okay if I bake two layers and then the third later? I'm just worried that the third layer may not rise/bake properly if left to sit out while the others are baking. I'm happy to make only two layers instead but I'd be worried about them being too thick to cook properly. If you could advise the best option for two 8 inch cake tins that would be wonderful! Thank you 🙂
Hi Juanita, yes you're right that leaving out the last bit of mixture will mean it won't rise as much as the rest. I would make two big sponges - if they start to catch at the edges before they are cooked through just cover them in foil. You could slice each one in half for a real showstopper!! Xx
So easy to make, absolutely delicious my whole family loved it and none of us are Vegan! Wouldn’t have been able to tell it was vegan, better than some non vegan coffee cakes I’ve had 🙂
That's so great to hear, thanks Alice.
I did two layers and it turned out fab! Thanks for the recipe
Brilliant! Thanks x
Delicious coffee & walnut cake - really pleased with the recipe and how the cake came out. Just made the one iced tier this time around, but will definitely be making it again! 🍰🙂
That's great to hear, thanks Jan! X
I’m not sure if it’s just different ovens, but I followed the recipe to the letter and it’s looking doubtful. The cakes were raw at 20mins. I cooked them for 33 mins in total and when I turned them out after cooling, they melted into the wire racks. I did think the batter was quite runny when I was prepping it 🙁
Oh no, so sorry to hear this Naomi. You'll see from all the comments above that lots of readers have had great success with the recipe so it does sound like an oven issue to me. Have you tried using an oven thermometer to test how hot your oven actually is? If they were raw at 20 minutes there is definitely something wrong, what a shame.
Made this cake and it was so delish!!; Love your recipes. Tried the carrot cake as well and was very moist and truly yummy! Thanks!
That's so lovely to hear, thanks Carla! X
Love Love Love this recipe. It really does make you wonder why the hell we ever needed dairy... now we really do not need it at all. These cakes are delicious vegan or not vegan. I'm yet to do the icing as I tend to ice the cakes too soon so I'm tackling this in the afternoon to avoid any runny messes. I only have 2 cake tins so added a bout 850g of mixture or so to each one and then had enough to make up 6 muffins!! (Muffins took 30 mins and the cakes took over 40mins until the skewer came out clean. (I know this is down to so much mixture being in each tin and if divided by 3 it would have took less time. I also turned the oven down after 30 mins to 160 fan as I didn't want them to burn. (I've already eaten one of the cupcakes whilst warm and they were lovely and "moist" haha. Very very delicious and I'm sure with the buttercream the bitterness from the coffee will be balanced out perfectly! I'm going to try and make a lot of your recipes now!! Also I used Oat Milk instead of soya and it worked just the same!
Hey hey - about to do this recipe for the second time!
The buttercream is hands down the best vegan buttercream recipe I've done; it came out a smidge "dry" so added a tiny bit more vegan cream and it was perfect.
I only had two tins, so like an earlier commenter, baked them for about 35 - 40 mins, and they were pretty good.
One thing I wanted to check - the temp is supposed to be 180 in a fan oven, right? I did mine at 160 in a fan oven, as I wanted to stop them doming, but it didn't work very well. Do you have any advice on how to stop the cakes doming?
Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Olly, I find vegan cakes do tend to dome a bit as they have more raising agent than traditional cakes. Cooking lower and slower will help so do turn down to 160 or lower. But it is hard to get a completely flat top. I usually put mine on the cooling rack upside-down which flattens the top, and sometimes actually sandwich them with the top layer upside down, to get a really flat top. Depends how you are decorating them. Glad you've enjoyed the recipe and thanks for the feedback!
Uses this recipe the other day and the cake turned amazing and tasted so yummy! You wouldn’t even know it’s vegan, the sponge cake is so light and moist. Directions are easy to follow as well! Can’t wait to try some more vegan cake recipes from here.
That's so great to hear - thanks Anne-Marie.
I made this the other day and was so pleased with it. The sponge consistency was perfect and it tasted incredible. The buttercream was a bit too loose and I'd have preferred a bit more coffee in it personally, but I'll definitely be making this again It certainly did last long in our house😂
I made this cake before and it was AMAZING. Just wondering if I can substitute the oil for a vegan butter?
Thanks
Hi Claire, I haven't tried it with vegan butter BUT I think it would work fine - you would have to alter the method and cream the butter and sugar to begin with. In fact, I wonder if you might be better off using my Victoria Sponge recipe and adding coffee essence (something like Camp coffee), or else substituting in the coffee and water to replace a bit of the soya milk? Let me know how it goes however you try it!