Oh how we love coffee desserts, and this Espresso Layer Cake with it's moist and flavorful layers filled with espresso whipped cream is sure to become a new favorite!
We've frosted the cake in a dreamy Espresso Buttercream frosting that tastes amazing with the espresso infused cake layers. If you love coffee, you are going to want to save this recipe!
How to Make Espresso Layer Cake
You can find the full, printable espresso cake recipe further down in this post but here is a quick rundown of our steps!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour three 8 inch x 2 inch round cake pans. (We also like to line our cake pans with a circle of parchment paper.)
- In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to blend for 30 seconds. Set aside.
- In another bowl or measuring cup, combine the sour cream, milk, instant espresso granules, and vanilla extract.
- In the bowl of your mixer, beat the softened butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until fluffy and lightened in color.
- Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
- Add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (Three additions of dry ingredients, two of wet).
- Mix the cake batter until combined and smooth, do not mix above medium speed or over-mix.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let the cakes cool 5-10 minutes in their pans on a wire rack, then turn out.
Can the Cake Layers be Frozen?
Yes they can! Whenever possible, I like to wrap and freeze my freshly baked cake layers not only for convenience, but also because of the additional boost of moisture that freezing adds to the cakes.
After baking my cake layers, I allow them to cool in their pans on wire racks for about five minutes before flipping them onto foil-wrapped cake boards. (I wrap the cake boards in foil so that they can be reused for the next cake).
Wrap While Still Warm
*While the cake layers are still warm*, wrap them in plastic wrap and then foil. Then, into the freezer they go!
The dramatic change in temperature from warm, wrapped cakes being placed into the freezer causes additional moisture to form that becomes trapped within the cake layers.
Of course, if your cake layers are no longer warm when you wrap and freeze them, they will still freeze great and will taste as fresh as the day they were frozen as long as they were wrapped tightly.
Wrapped cake layers can be frozen successfully for up to three months.
Thawing the Cake Layers
When ready to thaw the cake layers, remove from the freezer and place them on the kitchen counter while still wrapped (so that the condensation forms on the foil rather than the cake).
Allow them to thaw to desired amount- some bakers prefer to assemble their cakes while the layers are still partially frozen so that they are less fragile.
Espresso Whipped Cream Filling
This light espresso whipped cream filling is so easy to make and tastes so good!
You can find the full recipe further down in this post, but it's simply a matter of whipping up a mixture of heavy cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and espresso.
Make sure that your bowl and beaters have been well chilled before whipping! The resulting filling is a light and airy whipped cream with an unmistakable coffee flavor and just a hint of sweetness and vanilla.
We loved it so much that we used our espresso whipped cream on top of the cake as well!
Espresso Buttercream
This creamy buttercream frosting has a wonderful balance of coffee flavor as well as sweetness. This American buttercream recipe pipes great, makes a wonderful filling or frosting, and perfectly complements our scratch espresso cake layers!
As with most American buttercreams, this frosting is a simple combination of confectioners sugar, softened butter, a bit of heavy cream (or milk), vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and in today's case, a splash of espresso.
We dissolved the instant espresso granules in hot water and set aside to cool before incorporating into the frosting. (If you don't have instant espresso powder you can use instant coffee).
This is an easy frosting that would be delicious not only on coffee layer cakes, but on chocolate cakes, cinnamon cakes, vanilla bean cakes and more! If you love coffee, you will love this buttercream!
Assembling the Espresso Layer Cake
To assemble the cake layers, place the first espresso cake layer on your cake base or pedestal.
Since we are using a soft filling, I first piped a dam of buttercream around the edge of the cake layer (about ½ inch in) using a piping bag with the tip snipped away. The dam provides a barrier so that the soft filling cannot escape when the layers are stacked.
Next, spread the espresso whipped cream frosting within the dam and top with the second cake layer. Repeat the steps and top with the third cake layer.
Then, frost the cake with espresso buttercream. I always start with a thin coat (crumb coat) of frosting and then freeze the cake for about 15 minutes to firm things up before moving on to the final coat of frosting.
The chilling step is optional but I find it very helpful to decorate a cake that is nice and firm- no risk of sliding!
Decorating the Cake
Decorate the cake however you like, I used a heated metal bench scraper (which I ran under very hot water and dried) to smooth around the sides and top of the cake as I applied the second coat of buttercream.
I finished things off with a large espresso buttercream shell border (2D tip) around the base of the cake, and then a border of buttercream rosettes and stars (star tip 21) around the top edge of the cake.
I finished things off by applying our remaining espresso whipped cream on top of the cake- I used an Ateco 869 french tip for this!
More Coffee Flavor Cakes to Try!
If you love coffee, don't miss these other favorites from our Recipes section! There are so many great flavor pairings when it comes to coffee!
Enjoy the Recipe!
Thanks so much for stopping by! If you give our espresso layer cake a try, we would love for you to leave a comment and photo below!
Make sure to stop by our Cake Recipes and Cake Decorating Tutorials Section for hundreds of cake recipes & tutorials! We'd love to share our favorite recipes and decorating techniques with you!
Espresso Layer Cake
The coffee lovers in your life with LOVE this moist, flavorful espresso cake! Tender espresso cake layers are filled with espresso whipped cream and frosted with espresso buttercream.
Ingredients
For the Espresso Cake Layers
- 2 Sticks (226 g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature (you can add eggs to very warm water, to bring to room temp)
- 1 cup (242 g) sour cream (we use full fat)
- ⅓ cup (81g) milk (we use whole milk)
- 3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 3 cups (342 g) cake flour (plain in the UK) *See substitution below
- 3 teaspoons (12g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (4g) salt
- 2 Tablespoons Instant Espresso (6g) (you can substitute instant coffee)
Espresso Whipped Cream
- 2 rounded teaspoons (2g) espresso powder (you could also use instant coffee)
- 1 teaspoon hot water
- 2 cups (464g) heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (29g) confectioners sugar
Espresso Buttercream
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 6 cups (690g) powdered sugar (sift then measure), more if needed for consistency you like
- 3 rounded teaspoons (4g) espresso powder or instant coffee granules
- 2 teaspoons hot water
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (116g) heavy cream, a bit more or less to reach consistency you like
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt to cut sweetness (optional)
Instructions
For the Espresso Cake Layers
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8 inch x 2 inch round cake pans.
- In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to blend for 30 seconds. Set aside.
- In another bowl or measuring cup, combine the sour cream, milk, instant espresso granules, and vanilla.
- In the bowl of your mixer, beat the softened butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until fluffy and lightened in color.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
- Add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture (3 additions of dry ingredients, 2 of wet).
- Mix until combined and smooth, do not mix above medium speed or over-mix.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let the cakes cool 5-10 minutes, then turn out.
Makes 7 cups batter. The recipe works well for cupcakes also.
For the Espresso Whipped Cream
- Put the mixing bowl and whisk attachment (or beaters of hand mixer) in the freezer for 15 minutes or in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Stir the hot water into the espresso powder until dissolved.
- In the chilled bowl, add the heavy cream, dissolved espresso, vanilla and confectioners sugar.
- Begin mixing on low speed gradually increasing to medium high speed. Watch closely as the mixture begins to thicken. Mix until soft peaks form. This will happen in 1 to 2 minutes so don't walk away from your stand mixer.
- Refrigerate until ready to add filling to cake layers
Vanilla Espresso Buttercream
- Dissolve espresso powder in the 2 teaspoons hot water, set aside
- In the bowl of your mixer, mix the softened butter until smooth
- Slowly add the powdered sugar along with the cream, vanilla and dissolved espresso powder and salt.
- Mix on medium speed until well blended and fluffy. It will increase in volume as you mix and more air is incorporated into the buttercream. The buttercream should be soft and easily spreadable. Add more liquid if needed to reach this consistency.
Notes
Substitution for Cake Flour:
Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Can't wait to try this expresso cake, sounds so good, thank you for the recipe. My only concern is with the freezing of the cakes whilst still warm. Does this not impose a food safety concern. I thought all foods must be thoroughly cooled before freezing. Maybe cakes are different, would appreciate your advice. Thank you
Hi Rosie, I'm comfortable with wrapping and freezing the layers while warm since it's what we've done for many, many years but it's completely up to you! If you are baking in advance, you can just cool the layers completely before wrapping & freezing and they will still taste as fresh as the day they were baked. Hope that you enjoy the recipe!
Can't wait to try this! It looks so yummy! Definitely a job for this weekend! Can I just ask why your buttercream on the sides of the cake looks different to the piped border please? On the sides it looks like it's different colours. Keep up the great work and thanks so much for all these fantastic recipes. I try every one! x
Hi Linda! That's a good question ;0) - I checked back to my other photos to make sure it wasn't just the lighting and they all look that way.
I think that the sides of the cake have that almost two toned look because I used the "hot knife" method of smoothing. Smoothing over the frosted, chilled cake with a very hot bench scraper seemed to really bring out the different colors in the frosting. I've seen this happen with chocolate frostings as well as tinted frostings-- I guess that it happens with coffee frostings too! ;0) The very top center of the cake is espresso whipped cream but everything else is the buttercream ;0)
I have a question about the whipped espresso cream. If it's going in between the layers, wouldn't it be better to stabilize it especially if you are not going to be consuming it in one day?
Hi Donna, we don't find that the whipped cream deflates in a way that is noticeable but there is no harm in adding stabilizer if you'd like!
I just finished frosting the cake. There was just enough frosting for the dam, the crumb coat and a nice layer over the crumb coat. I pretty much followed the recipe verbatim except instead of 3 tsps of vanilla in the batter, I subbed 1 tsp of Coffee extract and I also stabilized the whipped cream since it's just the two of us. I took a picture and stuck it in the fridge until we are ready to dig in. Thanks again for sharing this! Will be making some other cakes I have saved in the near future. That Tiramisu Cake has my name written all over it. ;-)
Hi Donna, so glad that you made the cake- I hope you enjoy it!!
Hello Melissa and BeBe. Happy New Year!!!
I have been saving this recipe to make and am considering making tomorrow. Wondering though, can it be made into cupcakes? And, will the baked result be just as good if I use ap flour? I typically don't have cake flour and I think prefer the texture given with ap flour.
Thank you.