This Gluten-Free Vegan Coffee Cake is just as delicious as its traditional counterpart: think moist, fluffy, fragrant coffee-infused sponge, rich, creamy frosting and earthy walnuts. It's easy to make, comes together in one bowl, can be made with or without coffee and is refined sugar free too.
American coffee cake does not contain coffee. It is called coffee cake because it is a cake that is often eaten with coffee. American coffee cake consists of a vanilla sponge, which is traditionally made extra moist and fluffy by the addition of sour cream, buttermilk, yogurt or cream cheese, topped with a cinnamon-infused crumble (streusel) topping. A mixture of cinnamon and sugar is also often added to the middle of the sponge to create a swirl effect. My Vegan Coffee Cake is an example of this.
This recipe is a British coffee cake. In Britain, coffee cake means a round cake that is made with a coffee-infused sponge and coffee-infused buttercream frosting with chopped walnuts mixed into the frosting, or used to decorate the top of the cake.
Yes - you can use decaffeinated coffee.
Yes - you can use chicory powder instead.
Chicory powder is made from ground chicory root and has a bitter, coffee-like flavour, so much so that it used to be known as 'poor man's coffee'. It also boasts numerous health benefits.
You can buy it in local health stores or online, and maybe at your local supermarket.
How to make ground walnuts
This recipe calls for ground walnuts - here's how to make them!
- Place the walnuts in a food processor.
- Whizz until they form a fine powder.
Tip: Make sure not to over-blend, otherwise you'll end up with nut butter!
How to make the cake
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
- Transfer the mixture to two 18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tins.
Tip: Line them with greased baking paper to make the sponges come out easier.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Leave the sponges to cool down on a cooling rack once they're out the oven.
How to frost and decorate it
- Make the frosting by using an electric whisk to whip up the coconut milk.
- Place one half of the cake on a cake stand or a plate and apply just less than half of the frosting onto it.
- Place the other half of the cake on top and apply the frosting on the top and sides of the cake - you can use a palette knife for frosting for this.
- Decorate the cake with walnut halves, if desired.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground walnuts with ground almonds (almond meal).
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground walnuts with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground walnuts.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
- You can use decaffeinated coffee.
- You can replace the instant coffee with chicory powder.
How long does this keep for?
This Coffee Cake tastes best when fresh, but keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
More vegan cake recipes
- Red Velvet Cake
- Tropical Carrot Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Cherry Bakewell Cake
- Chocolate Cake
- Black Forest Cake
- Strawberry Sponge Layer Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
- Lemon Pound Cake
- Orange Pound Cake
- Gingerbread Loaf Cake
- Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make it
Gluten-Free Vegan Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 teaspoons instant coffee * (or sub equal amount chicory powder)
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground walnuts ** (or sub ground almonds/almond meal)
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the frosting:
- 400 g (14 oz) tin of full-fat coconut milk ***
- 5 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee (or sub equal amount chicory powder)
To decorate:
- Walnut halves
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla, coffee and ground walnuts.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Divide mixture between two greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins).
- Bake in oven for around 15 minutes until risen slightly and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Once out the oven, transfer cakes from baking tins onto a wired rack to leave them to cool completely before applying the frosting.
For the frosting:
- You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it is full fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this cream!
- Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies).
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl.
- Add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and coffee.
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy.
To frost and decorate the cake:
- Place one half of the cake onto a plate or cake stand, and spread just less than half of the frosting onto it.
- Place the other half of the cake on top of that and use rest of the frosting to spread on top.
- Decorate with walnut halves if desired.
- Keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
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Rose
Hi Rhian
This cake looks and sounds delicious. My mum and I both love coffee walnut cake I am trying to eat gluten free and mostly dairyfree due to health issues. My mum is diabetic so I've been looking for a cake which is refined sugar free for a treat for her. I usually reduce or substitute any sugar in recipes although I'm not too great in the kitchen! I wanted to ask would this freeze well and for how long? Thinking if I made two I could freeze one. Or maybe I could make one cake but as small cupcake style cakes and just put frosting on the top and freeze a few, if so how would you adjust cooking time?
Many thanks for your lovely recipes...
Rhian Williams
Hi Rose, thank you so much for your comment. I'm sorry to hear about your health issues. This cake would probably be ok to freeze for about a month - the sponge part can be frozen but the frosting will have to be made fresh when eating. Cupcakes would be ok, the cooking time would be between 15-20 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Hope that helps and please let me know if you have any other questions!
Jennie
Hi Rhian
Literally just made your Coffee and Walnut cake. A slight adaptation as I used 50g ground Walnuts, 25g pecan nuts and 75g Ground Almonds rather than all Almonds)...and I just made a standard vegan buttercream (vegan Marge, icing sugar and instant coffee dissolved in warm water...but by golly it's AMAAAZING! 🙌 Soo light and moist; certainly my favourite Gluten Free Vegan Cake so far.
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe on your blog...it's an absolute winner 🏆xx
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for making it and so glad you liked it!! Thank you for sharing your substitutions too, that's so helpful to know! Thanks again.
Kylie
Hello,
I'm just wondering how is use real brewef coffee in this recipe instead of instant coffee/chicory.
Thank you
Rhian Williams
Hello, yes that should work! I would halve the amount of milk and use 100ml quite strong coffee. Hope that helps!
Claire
Hi Rhian
I've just made your coffee walnut cake after my success last week with the Victoria sponge! 😊
This sponge came out much more delicate and hasn't held together as well as the Victoria sponge, do you think it's because I used regular oil instead of coconut oil? Despite that it's still amazing! So light and fluffy. I used vegan coffee buttercream for the filling and the top but I don't think it needs it on top and in the centre as it's very sweet. Next time I'll just glue the bits together with the cream and leave the top! I'm working my way through your cake recipes! Yummy. Thank you for your recipes they're the best I've found so far!
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you so much for making it and for your detailed feedback! I'm glad you like my recipes. I don't think using regular oil in place of coconut oil should affect the structure that much - what gluten-free flour did you use? If it's having trouble holding together adding a tablespoon of tapioca flour will help bind it. Hope that helps and thanks again!
Ella
Hi,
I want to make your coffee and walnut cake tomorrow to surprise my mum (it's her favourite). I have various dietary restrictions due to chronic illness, so I've been desperate to find a good recipe that fits all our needs, yours looks amazing! BUT I only have individual gluten free flours rather than a pre-made blend, so I'm a bit stuck how to make my own? I know GF flours can be unpredictable and since I'm quite new to GF baking I'm apprehensive to just pick a recipe at random… I definitely have tapioca, coconut, almond flour and possibly buckwheat and brown rice flour. Please help!
Thanks for your recipe 🙂
Rhian Williams
Hi - thank you so much! Unfortunately, an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend or white rice flour with a tiny bit of tapioca is necessary for the texture of this. Buckwheat flour could work too but the flavour won't be as nice. I hope that helps!
Ella
Ok...can you recommend any (British-sold) brands for next time? Would I be able to make an all-purpose blend using a combination of the flours I mentioned above? If not do you think using regular all-purpose flour (or even combining it with whole wheat 1/2 and 1/2) would work instead?
I’m going to try make the cake tonight or tomorrow morning before my mum gets home, so please let me know as soon as possible. Thanks so much for your help!
Rhian Williams
Hi - yes sure! I live in the UK too, I always use Dove's Farm plain gluten-free flour. A regular all-purpose flour should work, and using whole wheat is fine too. Hope that helps!