Vanilla latte cake - Holiday Recipes

Vanilla latte cake

Vanilla latte cake; light fluffy vanilla and coffee cake layered with sweet vanilla and coffee buttercream, simple, soft and delicious!

Vanilla latte cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

1. 1 tbsp vanilla extract
2. 3 large eggs
3. 200g (1 ½ cups) self-raising flour
4. Pinch of salt
5. 2 tbsp coffee granules dissolved in 2 tbsp water OR 3-4 shots of espresso
6. 200g (13 tbsp) softened butter/margarine
7. 200g (1 cup) caster sugar

For the buttercream:

1. 250g (16 tbsp) softened butter
2. 400g (2 cups) icing sugar
3. 1 tbsp vanilla extract
4. 1 tbsp coffee granules dissolved in 1 tbsp water OR 1-2 shots of espresso

Vanilla latte cake

Instructions

For the cake:

1. Preheat your oven - 180°C / 160°C fan / 350°F / gas mark 4 - and grease/line two 6-8 inch sandwich cake tins.
2. Place your butter, sugar and vanilla into a large bowl and beat with a mixer or by hand until light and fluffy.
3. Add your eggs one at a time, beating between each addition until fully combined. Don't worry if it looks a little curdled, once you add the flour it will come right!
4. Sift your flour and salt into the bowl along with the strong coffee/espresso and mix gently until everything is smooth and combined.
5. Scoop all the batter into the two prepared cake tins and smooth out the top as best you can.
6. Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes, until firm and a skewer inserted into the centre can be pulled out cleanly.
7. Allow the cakes to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing them from the tin to cool completely.
8. Meanwhile, make the buttercream icing.

For the buttercream:

1. Beat together the butter, the vanilla and half the icing sugar until combined.
2. Add the remaining sugar and the strong coffee/espresso and beat vigorously until fully incorporated, light and pale in colour.
3. Once the cake is completely cool and your icing is ready, slather the top of one sponge with buttercream.
4. Sandwich it with the other sponge.
5. Spread the top sponge with buttercream, pushing it down the edges.
6. Smooth the edges out roughly with a knife or palette knife, this is known as the crumb-coat.
7. Add another few blobs of icing round the sides and the top of the cake, smoothing it out as best you can until you have no icing left. (If you do have extra, feel free to pipe little stars or blobs around the top like I have!)
8. Grate over some chocolate or decorate the cake however you like.
9. Now just slice and enjoy!

Notes

MAKE IT GLUTEN FREE: Simply replace the self-raising flour with a gluten free self-raising flour blend or a plain gluten free flour blend with 1 tsp of baking powder