Name: Moist Coffee Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 170 min
Ingredients: 2½ cups flour (regular all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)); ⅓ cup cornflour (also known as cornstarch); ½ tsp baking soda; 1 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp salt (omit if using salted butter); 4 tbsp instant coffee powder (I use a fine powdered coffee); ½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature); ½ cup unflavoured vegetable oil (I use canola); 1½ cups soft brown sugar (firmly packed (see note 6)); 3 large eggs (room temperature); 1¼ tbsp vanilla essence/extract; 1 tsp white vinegar; 1½ cups buttermilk (room temperature, see note 5 if using a homemade buttermilk substitute); 1 cup white/milk chocolate (couverture preferred, otherwise regular eating chocolate. Try not to use compound white chocolate. ); 3 cups cream (minimum fat percentage of 34%); 1½ tbsp instant coffee powder (I use a fine powdered coffee); 2 tbsp soft brown sugar; 1 tbsp unsalted butter; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 1 cup walnuts (roughly chopped or halved)

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

If you’re looking for a moist, fluffy coffee cake that is bursting with coffee flavour, then this recipe is it! Soft coffee cake layers are sandwiched between the most divine white chocolate and coffee whipped ganache frosting, and lightly candied walnuts – YUM!

How to make coffee cake

This recipe has three different elements, but they’re all easy to put together!

The whipped ganache frosting is the star of this cake so I would highly recommend making it. It’ll be best to start on the ganache first before making the cake as it needs time to cool in the fridge before whipping (instructions for making the ganache are after the coffee cake).

Coffee cake

For the coffee cake, begin by preheating your oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 on recipe card below if you don’t have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release). Set aside for now.

In a bowl, sift together flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and instant coffee powder. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.

In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and soft brown sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine – see note 2 on recipe card below), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.

Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).

Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. The batter may look curdled but that’s okay. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.

Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3 on recipe card below). Your batter should be nice and smooth and no longer curdled.

Divide the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once done, let the cakes cool in the cake tins for 20 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting.

White chocolate and coffee whipped ganache frosting

Chop up your chocolate into small pieces (no need to do this if using chocolate callets) and place in a heat proof bowl.

Place the cream in a saucepan over a low-medium heat and heat it up until it begins to gently bubble. Once it’s gently bubbling, immediately take it off the heat (you don’t want to overheat the cream) and pour it over the chocolate. Add in the coffee at this point too but no need to mix it.

Allow the chocolate/cream mixture to sit for 5 minutes untouched. After 5 minutes, stir with a spatula and then using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Keep the immersion blender at the bottom of the bowl to prevent air bubbles getting into the ganache.

Pour the ganache into a wide baking tray/dish (this will allow it to cool quicker), and cover it with cling wrap so that it’s touching the top of the ganache. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Place it in the fridge for at least a few hours to allow it to thicken up slightly and become very cold. You can also do this step the day beforehand.

Once ready, pour the ganache into a bowl and whip until you reach semi-stiff peaks. It comes together quite quickly so be careful not to overwhip the cream.

Lightly candied walnuts

Place a saucepan over a medium heat and add in sugar, butter and cinnamon, stirring occasionally.

Once the sugar is melted and begins to gently bubble, add in the walnuts and stir so that the walnuts are evenly coated with the butter/sugar mixture. Once coated immediately take it off the heat and pour it onto a tray. Use a spatula or spoon to separate the walnuts.

Allow the walnuts to cool and harden (about 5 minutes or so).

How to decorate this coffee cake

OPTIONAL: Begin by trimming off the top of the cake layers so that they’re nice and flat. These cake layers bake up quite flat so you should only need to trim off a very small amount.

Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and spread out a generous amount of the whipped ganache frosting on top. Evenly distribute half of the candied walnuts on top of the cream.

Place the next cake layer on top and cover the top and sides with more whipped ganache. I like to do a little bit of piping on the top (I used a 1A piping tip for this cake). Finish off by evenly distributing the remaining walnuts on top. Enjoy!