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!).
- 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)
- 3 tbsp instant coffee (mixed with 1 1/2 tbsp boiling water)
- 250 g dairy-free margarine (at room temperature)
- 640 g icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp dairy-free single cream (soya or oat)
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.
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.
Don’t forget to pin the recipe for later, or to share with friends → → → → →
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There are plenty of quick and easy vegan recipes in my new book, ‘Vegan in 15‘*. Hop over to Amazon for a look. Thanks for your support!
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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
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins recently posted…Weekly Meal Plan – #MealPlanningMonday 2018 Week 4
Two things I love.. coffee and walnuts .. and you put them in one scrumptious cake 🙂 awesome
Veggy Malta recently posted…15 products that may seem vegetarian but in fact are non-vegetarian!
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
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!’