Coffee Layer Cake

A delicious, moist coffee layer cake is filled with coffee buttercream and apricot jam. This English Coffee Cake is perfect for Afternoon Tea or a late night snack!

You may be confused by the title and picture, in America coffee cake looks much different than this cake. But for me, this is a coffee cake. This is one of the cakes my nan and mom always make.

Ironically I don't drink coffee, but coffee flavored desserts are my jam!! This coffee cheesecake is one of my all time favorites.

Let's get to the recipe.

Jump to:

• What is the difference between English and American Coffee Cake?
• What are the ingredients for a coffee layer cake?
• How do you make a coffee layer cake?
• How to bake coffee cake?
• How do you assemble a coffee layer cake?
• Can you make coffee cake ahead of time?
• Can you freeze coffee cake?
• Recipe Card
• Recipe Ratings & Comments

What is the difference between English and American Coffee Cake?

American coffee cake is a moist, dense yellow cake, topped with a copious amount of crumb topping, and sometimes drizzled with icing.

English coffee cake is a cake flavored with coffee.

Coffee in the cake- see that makes way more sense to me! And it's the way I grew up with it. My mom and nan always made coffee cake. And coffee buttercream is legit so good.

What are the ingredients for a coffee layer cake?

To make the cake you only need standard pantry staples.

• All-Purpose Flour/ Plain Flour
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Large Eggs, at room temp.
• Granulated Sugar/ Caster Sugar
• Unsalted Butter, at room temp.
• Vegetable Oil or another neutral oil like Grapseed
• Instant coffee or Espresso Powder (adjust amount to your preference less or more)
• Hot water to liquify the coffee
• Buttermilk, at room temp.

To decorate this cake these items are needed:

• 1 Batch Coffee Buttercream Recipe
• Apricot Jam/ Preserves- sounds weird but trust me it goes beautifully with the coffee flavor
• Roasted Walnuts- roasted nuts and coffee frosting are amazing

Baking is a science and to really achieve the best results I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale. This OXO Kitchen Scale is the one I use and is also the number one recommended kitchen scale by Cook's Illustrated. Think about it -what one person scoops into a "cup" is completely different as to what someone else scoops!

How do you make a coffee layer cake?

Of course we are going to start by preheating our oven to 350F/ 180C and grease two 8-inch cake pans. It is ever soooo important to grease your pans so the cake releases easily an stays together!

Let's combine the dry ingredients- in a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

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In another large bowl with a handheld mixer or your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter for 2 minutes, add the oil and mix for an additional minute. 

You can use vegetable or grapeseed oil, basically any oil that is neutral in flavor.

I like to use butter for the flavor it gives to cakes but I also like to add a little oil due to the high level of moisture it creates in cakes.

Add the sugar and beat for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs.

In a small cup or bowl add the coffee granulates and hot water- stir until coffee granulates have disappeared. Add to the wet ingredients. 

Gently fold in half of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk then repeat with remaining ingredients.

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How to bake coffee cake?

Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until you stick a toothpick in the center and only moist crumbs come out, no wet batter.

You can also gently press the top center of the cake and if it bounces back the cake is done.

Let the cakes cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before inverting to cool completely.

How do you assemble a coffee layer cake?

Place one cake layer on a cake board or serving plate, spread about 4oz (½ Cup) of coffee frosting on the cake, making the edges higher to create a frosting dam for the apricot jam.

Spread the jam within that frosting dam and place remaining cake layer on top bottom face up- this helps create a flat top. Spread frosting on the top layer and decorate with roasted walnuts.

Can you make coffee cake ahead of time?

Of course, once the cakes are completely cool wrap them tightly in plastic wrap then wrap again. Place on a flat surface in the freezer and freeze for up to a month. Let cake thaw at room temperature for one hour before use.

If you are worried your cake was not wrapped tightly enough and has lost some moisture you can make a quick simple syrup to brush the cake. In a small pot add equal parts sugar and water, ½ cup of each should be fine, and let it simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. Using a pastry brush, brush the cake layers with the simple syrup.

Can you freeze coffee cake?

You can freeze the cake and frosting separately, or leftover slices, or the whole cake.

• Separately- To freeze the cake you need to tightly wrap the cake in plastic wrap and store on a flat surface in the freeze. To thaw let it sit out at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
• To freeze the frosting- store in an airtight container, let thaw in the fridge overnight, and let sit at room temperature the next day. Rewhip the frosting before use.
• To freeze the whole cake, let the cake sit in the freezer until frozen. Then wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Let the cake thaw in the fridge overnight - removing tight plastic wrap to prevent messing up the frosting, after thawed in fridge let the cake sit at room temperature the next day
• To freeze the cake slices, place the slices in the freezer just until frozen then wrap tightly in plastic wrap. To thaw take the slices out of the freeze and let sit at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

Here are some of my other favorite cake recipes:

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake- this cake is moist and soft, filled with homemade salted caramel, fresh whipped cream, and chocolate ganache. This cake is seriously a dream.

Raspberry Swirl Lemon Cheesecake- This light lemony cheesecake is swirled with a raspberry puree, creating a gorgeous and tasty cake!

Chocolate Lava Cake- Surprisingly very easy to make these individual cakes are always a hit and perfect to make ahead for a dinner party!

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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