This Vanilla Latte Cake transforms a classic coffee beverage into a delicious dessert! Infused with espresso and vanilla, it is perfect for the coffee lover in your life.
Man, I’ve had some serious baking fails over the past couple weeks. The other day I was baking cake layers for an upcoming post and checked on them too early. They weren’t quite set yet when I moved them around in the oven, so they totally caved in. I could literally see them falling before my eyes. SO sad (they still tasted good though).
With this Vanilla Latte Cake it was quite the opposite. I overbaked the layers for fear of underbaking, and the cake came out dry. I didn’t realize this until I cut into it though — there isn’t really an easy way to tell a cake is overbaked unless it’s burnt (lol). I had the foresight to douse the layers with some simple syrup before stacking, but even that didn’t help much.
Learn from my mistakes, people. Don’t check your cakes too early or too late. Baking is stressful, amirite?
If you haven’t noticed, I am a HUGE fan of coffee flavoured desserts. It’s honestly one of my favourite flavours. I especially love coffee and chocolate together, but today I wanted to try something different with this Vanilla Latte Cake.
The key components in this cake are instant espresso powder and vanilla bean paste. My pantry is always stocked with these items because I love and use them so much.
If you don’t have either of these, this recipe will still work with any instant espresso and regular vanilla. You won’t have vanilla bean flecks in your cake or frosting, but the taste will be similar.
It’s important to note that the espresso powder I use is very fine — almost the consistency of powdered sugar. It is not granules. You can use instant espresso granules, but you’ll need to dissolve them first for use in the frosting (see recipe notes for details).
To infuse the coffee flavour into the cake layers, all I did was take my favourite Vanilla Cake recipe and dissolve some espresso powder right into the milk. You can add more if you like, for a more intense flavour.
The buttercream is a Swiss Meringue which I’ve made before, but I added more espresso powder this time to intensify the flavour and, of course, the vanilla bean paste.
If you’re a coffee lover like I am, or have one in your life, this cake is the perfect treat!
Looking for more coffee flavoured desserts??
- Mocha Chocolate Cake
- Kahlua Cake
- Coffee & Baileys Cake
- Tiramisu Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake
- Coffee & Baileys Macarons
Tips for making this Vanilla Latte Cake:
- Be sure to use instant espresso powder, not granules, especially in the frosting. See recipe notes for modification if you can’t find the powder.
- You can use regular vanilla instead of vanilla bean paste. The flavour will be the same, you just won’t have flecks of vanilla bean seeds throughout the frosting.
- I used a small offset spatula to do the swirl on the top and sides of the cake and a 6B tip to pipe the dollops on top.
- Be sure to check my Swiss Meringue Buttercream post for tips and troubleshooting.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my Flat Top Cakes post.
Vanilla Latte Cake
Ingredients
Vanilla Latte Cake:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk room temperature
- 1 Tbsp espresso powder
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Vanilla Latte Buttercream:
- 6 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 2 Tbsp espresso powder not granules*
Assembly:
- coffee beans whole
Instructions
Vanilla Latte Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 6" cake rounds and line with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- In a small measuring cup, combine room temperature milk & espresso powder. Stir until dissolved. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 3mins). Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla vanilla bean paste.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and espresso milk, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of milk). Fully incorporating after each addition.
- Bake for 30-35mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
Vanilla Latte Buttercream:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.**
- Place bowl over a double boiler on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot and no longer grainy to the touch (approx. 3mins). Or registers 160F on a candy thermometer.
- Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (approx. 5-10mins)).
- Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth.***
- Add vanilla bean paste and espresso powder. Whip until smooth.
Assembly:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Top with approximately 2/3 cup of buttercream. Repeat with remaining layers and crumb coat the cake. Chill for 20mins.
- Frost the top and sides of the cake and smooth with an icing smoother.
- Do a swirl pattern on the sides and top of the cake. Rotate the turntable while pressing a small offset spatula into the frosting. Start at the bottom and slowly move up to the top of the cake.
- Pipe small dollops on top using a 6B tip with remainder of frosting. Decorate with whole coffee beans if desired.
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Notes
** Ensure there is NO trace of egg yolks in your whites and that your mixer bowl and whisk is completely grease free or your meringue won't stiffen.
*** The buttercream may look like it's curdled at some point. Keep mixing until it is completely smooth.
Diya says
Hi Liv! I am making this recipe today and was wondering if I could use instant coffee granules (after dissolving them with the water like you said) instead of instant espresso?
Olivia says
Hi Diya! Yes, that will work fine. You may want to use more though since the espresso powder is stronger.
Lynn says
Thank you for this amazing recipe and all the links for tips and tricks. The pop up ads were a bit much but the information was so helpful. Made my first ever Swiss meringue buttercream as recommended and oh girl it turned out perfect! The cakes were a bit flat as I only had 9″ pans but still enough to decorate and use the Combs I bought to try to dress it up. I’ve never made a pretty cake like this, it’s always been slapping frosting on a cake in a pan but I will never go back to that. It was so simple and makes me look like a far better baker than I am. Thanks so much. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes!
Olivia says
Hi Lynn! I am so thrilled to hear you made your first SMBC and that it was a hit! I’m glad you found the info here helpful and I can’t wait to see what you make next π
Holly Salimaki says
Could I use regular coffee grounds? I don’t have instant coffee or espresso powder on hand. πππ
Olivia says
Hi Holly! It would need to be instant as regular grounds will not dissolve. You can experiment with swapping the milk in the recipe with brewed coffee (or coffee with milk) and that should work ok — for the frosting it would be tricky though to get the flavour through. You’d need to make a very strong amount of coffee and add it to the buttercream, but you don’t want to add too much as it will affect the texture.
Mia says
Hi, can i use espresso granules for the cake batter ? Do i need to disolve it with the water like u suggest for the frosting? Thanks
Olivia says
Hi Mia! Yes, just dissolve them in the milk as per the recipe.
Amy W. says
This cake was delicious and the frosting so velvety. The cake was on the spongey side of cake, a little denser, but still fluffy and moist. I didn’t think the espresso powder would dissolve completely in the frosting, but even though I could still see it when I stopped mixing it somehow dissolved completely by the time I started piping. I used a combo of vanilla pods scraped and extract in the cake, extract only in the frosting, and some homemade coffee extract in the frosting since I only had 3/4 Tbsp espresso powder left. I made cupcakes and got 21 and 1 half one for tasting. The frosting amount was perfect to do a generous 2D rose on each with some leftover. I also made a tiramisu cream to fill them which went really well together. Topped with chocolate covered espresso beans and a dusting of cocoa powder. Thank you so much for this recipe, I will definitely make it again!
Olivia says
Hi Amy! Thanks so much for the feedback and tips! I’m glad you liked it π
Tej says
Hi liv!
Could you please tell me around how much quantity of buttercream to make to make fa 1/4 kg cake?
Olivia says
Hi Tej! Can you clarify? What size pans are you using? Are you modifying the recipe at all?
Tej says
Hey
I am using 6β pans
Tej says
Yes Iβll have to alter the measurements of the buttercream recipe….i am a bit confused as to how should i
Olivia says
The recipe calls for 6″ pans so you shouldn’t have to make any adjustments.
Fanny says
Y al a hice y me encanto
Olivia says
Hi Fanny! So glad you liked it!
Katherine says
Hi there! Could I double the recipe to accommodate four layers of 9 inch round tins? Should i go less (1.5x) or more(3x)? Thanks!!
Olivia says
Hi Katherine! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here’s a site I use as a guideline: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html
nicolthepickle (Nicole Graham) says
My cake was a tiny bit on the dry side as well, maybe overbaked, although it looked fine. I simple syruped it with a coffee syrup and it was fine after that.
I used 1 TBSP of Nescafe Espresso Gold powder in the buttercream, because it tasted quite strong at first taste. It mellows though and when I make it again I’ll use the recommended two.
Olivia says
Hi Nicole! Strange that it came out dry and sorry to hear that. Glad the syrup helped!
Eli says
Hi Olivia,
I was wondering if this cake could be fitted into a 9 inch pan, and if so would it need to be doubled or tripled?
thanks!
Olivia says
Hi Eli! Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here’s a site I use as a guideline: http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html
Kathy says
For anyone interested, you can get about 75 mini cupcakes from this recipe.
Olivia says
Thanks so much for the tip, Kathy!!
Debs says
Hello Olivia, may I know are most of your cakes moist and fluffy or are they dense and moist?
I am not so much of a fan of dense cakes
Olivia says
Hi Debs! I would say most of mine are more on the dense side as it’s what I prefer π
Ali says
How do you recommend baking this in 8″ rounds? Preferably two layers?
Olivia says
Hi Ali! Leave the recipe as is for two 8″ pans. Baking time should be somewhat similar as well.
Natika says
Hello,
I made this cake and it is amazing!! Even my husband loved it (he does not eat/like sweets) thank you so much for sharing the recipe
Olivia says
Hi Natika! I’m so happy to hear that you both loved it!
Dawn says
Have you tried this recipe as cupcakes?
Olivia says
Hi Dawn! I have not, but it should work totally fine!
Nicola says
Iβm making this on Sunday – canβt wait!
Olivia says
Yay! I hope you like it π
Nicola says
It was AMAZING!! A massive hit in the office. The only wobble I had was split buttercream, which was rescued after I zapped a bit of it in the microwave and mixed it back in. I love the way the buttercream goes from speckled to a gorgeous beige as the coffee powder dissolved. Great recipe – thank you!
Olivia says
Glad to hear you didn’t give up on the buttercream!!! It often curdles/splits or looks funky π Happy to hear that everyone liked it π
wishacupcake says
This cake is so tempting, loved the idea of the flavors of coffee mixed with cake. it is just amazing.
Olivia says
Thanks so much!