This decadent vegan coffee and walnut cake is easy to make, and a real showstopper. Light and nutty sponge layers filled with fluffy coffee buttercream.
🍴Why you will love this recipe
This deliciously light and moist vegan coffee and walnut cake is so very easy to make. You don't need a fancy food mixer or other equipment, just a bowl and a spatula!
There are no weird ingredients in this cake - no vinegar, flax seeds or egg replacers, and it turns out brilliantly every time, just read the reviews at the bottom of the post.
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. Follow my top tips for best results. If you have time, keeping the cooled cakes in an airtight tin overnight before adding the buttercream makes a huge difference for an extra-soft and moist sponge.
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📝 What you need
Instant Coffee This cake has just the right amount of coffee to have a good coffee kick to it without being bitter. You can use any instant coffee granules or powder, or if you prefer you can swap in liquid coffee essence (like Camp Coffee) in which case you don't need to mix it with water.
Walnuts I chop these by hand rather than using a mini-chopper, so that they don't become chopped too finely.
Oil Use a flavourless oil like rapeseed or sunflower oil. Avoid anything with a stronger flavour like olive or coconut oil.
👩🏽🍳 How to make your Vegan Coffee Cake
For a full, printable recipe with ingredients and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this page.
Mix the coffee granules and water and set aside to cool. Roughly chop the walnuts.
Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl. In a separate jug, mix the oil, soya milk and coffee mixture.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir through the walnuts. Divide the mixture between two tins.
Make the buttercream. When the cakes are completely cool, layer with buttercream and scatter with chopped walnuts.
⭐️ 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
🔪 Top Tips & FAQs
Work quickly once you have combined the wet and dry ingredients. The raising agent will get to work straight away creating tiny bubbles, and you want these to form in the oven, not on your worktop!
If you can, store the cooled cakes overnight in an airtight tin before icing. This process draws moisture through the cakes and makes them deliciously soft and moist.
Frequently Asked Questions
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!
An instant coffee powder is easiest to mix to a paste with boiling water, though granules work fine too. If you prefer, you can use a coffee essence (like Camp Coffee) which doesn't need to be mixed with water.
This cake is lovely and moist, so will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight tin or container.
Yes absolutely. The quantities in the recipe make 20-22 fairly large cupcakes, so you might need to adjust these. The simplest way to do this is to go to 'Print Recipe' and adjust the number of slices. Adjusting to 6 slices will give you 12 cupcakes.
🍽 If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Coffee and Walnut Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 3 tablespoon instant coffee powder or granules mixed with 2 tablespoon boiling water
- 450 g self-raising flour
- 270 g caster sugar
- 2.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 450 ml soya milk
- 150 ml rapeseed oil (or other flavourless oil)
- 100 g walnuts
For the Buttercream:
- 2 tablespoon instant coffee powder or granules mixed with 1 tablespoon boiling water
- 200 g dairy-free block margarine at room temperature
- 400 g icing sugar
- pinch salt
- 2 tablespoon dairy-free single cream optional
- 50 g walnuts
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 two 23cm / 9 inch cake tins with a circle of baking parchment or greaseproof paper.
- Roughly chop the walnuts and set aside.
- 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 smooth.
- Stir through the chopped walnuts, then divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Tap each tin firmly on the work surface to remove small bubbles, 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 dairy-free margarine and icing sugar until fully combined, then add the coffee mixture, salt and cream, and whisk until light and fluffy.
- Spread about a third of the buttercream over the bottom layer of the cake. Put the top layer in place and spread half the remaining buttercream over the top. Pipe the remaining buttercream in small rosettes around the edge of the cake.
- Finely chop the walnuts and scatter over the cake.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Maggie says
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
Claire stephens says
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!
Kate Ford says
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.
Carolyn Morgan says
First vegan cake I have made and it was so easy to do and the cake was delicious.
Alice says
For cupcakes... Could I make a smaller batch or 12? Will this require less mixture?
KP says
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?
MG says
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!
Nelly says
Does the cake really only need 20 mins? It’s the first ive seen this!
Sandra says
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.
Kate Ford says
That's so great to hear - thanks Sandra! One of my favourites. Kx
Stu says
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.
Sarina Tester says
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.
Ana says
Fab cake! Made it this morning - icing was a little watery but tasted amazing, thank you!
Lottie says
Can I use wholemeal self raising baking powder?
thevegspace says
Yes that should work fine - the texture will be a bit different, not as fine, but it should still rise OK.
Charlie says
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!
Sophie says
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!
thevegspace says
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
Sophie says
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
Heather James says
Delicious cake!!! Only problem I've had is that the icing split 🙁 Anyone else had this issue?
Sarah says
If buttercream splits add more sifted icing sugar and beat thoroughly. Too much water based flavouring can make it split too
brYony says
Would this work with oat milk do you think/have you tried? Thanks
thevegspace says
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
Sudheera Koduru says
Hello! I gave it a go with oat milk and it came out lovely. Thanks for the recipe! ❤️
Carolyn Morgan says
I used oat milk and it worked and tasted lovely
Kathryn Brown says
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.
thevegspace says
That's great, thanks Kathryn x
Veggy Malta says
Two things I love.. coffee and walnuts .. and you put them in one scrumptious cake 🙂 awesome
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
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