🎄Christmas Coffee Cake, full bodied coffee cake with a hint of mint.

Soft, fluffy sponge cake, minty and chocked full of coffee flavour. 

Christmas Coffee Cake … up close

We always like this coffee & mint flavour combination, especially when Christmas comes around. Somehow smoky roast coffee and/or peppermint hot chocolate on Christmas morning always hits the spot whilst opening presents. This Christmas Coffee Cake is exactly that and it’s made all the more celebratory, decorated with peppermint candy cane to get in the mood for the season!

Perfect trio – mint, coffee, cake

Upon request, the Sugar Crumble household made this Christmas Coffee Cake in advance to celebrate one of our November babes. Birthday girl was super happy and so were we. Perfect trio of mint, coffee and cake … sweet, refreshing and brings just the right notes of nostalgia. 

Think my CandyCane gal is SATISFIED!

What can I say – it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!😊

Christmas Coffee Cake Step-by-Step tutorial

If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here 😊

Tips 

#1 How to get the perfect coffee sponge cake

Make this soft light coffee sponge …

• Don’t over-whip the egg whites. They should be whipped to soft peaks only. 

• Always whisk gently and slowly when adding the next ingredient, so as not to deflate the air built up in the batter.

• Make sure to fold in the flour well, especially scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure there are no unmixed flour pockets.

• Mix the flour in until just combined, do not overmix.

• The cake layers should bake immediately after the folding in the flour. They should not sit out for too long, otherwise the air in the batter could deflate.

• Always bake in a pre-heated oven. I baked at the lowest rack of the oven as the cake browned too quickly when it was baked at the middle rack. You may want to test out to see which rack level bakes best for your oven temperature. 

• Do not open the oven door to check the cake until towards the end when the baking is almost complete. Otherwise run the risk that the cake may sink in the middle due to the temperature change when the oven is opened.

#2 Coffee frosting

Do not over-whisk the coffee frosting or it will become grainy. I also do not use cold brewed coffee directly to flavour the cream as too much liquid in the coffee can cause the cream not to whip up.

DO NOT OVERWHIP … stop at stiff peaks

Instead, I added Kahlua coffee liqueur (optional) and coffee emulco, an emulsion based flavouring to pump up the coffee notes. An alternative would be to dissolve instant coffee granules with a couple of tablespoons of warm cream and incorporate it into the frosting when it has cooled. That would work too. 

No cold coffee brew, use instant coffee granules instead

If you love this Christmas Coffee Cake, check out my Coffee Doorstop Cake. 

Coffee Doorstop Cake .. another of our coffee favorite

#3 Peppermint candy canes

We love all mint flavoured stuff. Especially at Christmas. Give us mint chocolate, mint coffee, mint ice cream … anything MINT and we are happy puppies. 

 Mint candy cane, a Christmas tradition

So if you have always wondered why the mint candy cane is a part of the Christmas experience – the story goes that in 1670, a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral handed out candy to children at their nativity mass to keep them occupied. The candy was further shaped to look like a shepherd’s staff as a celebration of the birth of the Shepherd and the Christmas story. 

Is this true? How it all actually started? I don’t know and I don’t mind because whoever started this tradition, thank you for it has become that something special our family loves so much at Christmas!

Coffee cake, mint candy cane & milk!!

Do note that mint candy canes tend to sweat in hot humid Singapore weather so only put them on just before serving and they’ll be perfect. And if you are a mint lover like us, you may also like my Easy No Churn Mint Ice Cream.

#4 Make ahead & storage

I usually make the coffee sponge cake a couple of days ahead and keep it cling wrapped and well chilled in the refrigerator. On the day before serving, prepare the coffee whipped cream, frost the cake any way you like and store the Christmas Coffee Cake chilled until ready to serve. This Christmas Coffee Cake keeps well chilled for 2-3 days and is best consumed within this time frame.

Did you make this Christmas Coffee Cake? I would love to know how it turned out. Tell me more! 😊  Please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram, FB hashtag #thesugarcrumble 

Print Recipe

🎄Christmas Coffee Cake

Christmas Coffee Cake - a delicious coffee sponge layered in mascarpone coffee frosting with just a hint of mint. Beware, the minty coffee frosting is addictive & you may end up eating it off a spoon 🙂 The Kahlua is optional but it's an extra caffeine boost. A Blessed Merry Christmas to all!

Prep Time50 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Christmas Cake, Coffee cake, Mint coffee

Servings: 6 inch round cake

Author: Kai

Ingredients

Coffee Sponge Cake

• 95 g egg white ~ 3 egg whites
• 45 g egg yolks ~ 3eggs
• 85 g sugar
• 90 g cake flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 30 g milk
• 25 g oil
• 1 tbsp instant coffee granules

Mint Coffee Frosting

• 250 g mascarpone cheese
• 3 tbsp powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp Kahlua coffee liqueur (optional)
• 1 tsp gelatin bloomed in 3 tsp cold water
• 300 ml heavy cream
• 1 tbsp coffee emulco
• 1 tsp peppermint extract (optional)

Decor

• 7-8 peppermint candy canes
• A sprinkle of dried mint leaves (optional)

Instructions

Coffee sponge cake

• Pre-heat oven to 150C.
• Double sift cake flour together with salt and set aside.
• Beat egg whites until foamy. Add the granulated sugar in 3 parts and beat till soft peaks. Add yolks and mix lightly with a hand whisk until just combined.
• Add the sifted flour mixture in 2 parts. Mix until just combined. Warm up the milk in the microwave for 20 sec. Add the instant coffee granules and stir until well dissolved. Combine the 25g oil with the warm milk coffee mixture and add to the batter. The warm milk helps the eggs to aerate and keeps the batter light and airy.
• Switch to a spatula and mix gently until the batter is even and well combined. Be careful to fold gently and slowly so as not to deflate the air that has been whisked into the batter.
• Line the base and sides of a 6 x 3 inch round cake tin and pour in the cake batter. Tap the cake tin a few times on the work table. Then, gently stir the batter with a wooden skewer. Both the tapping and stirring with a skewer will help to take out large air bubbles.
• Once the oven is pre-heated to 150C, bake for 40 minutes at the lowest rack of the oven (see note 1) or until a skewer comes out clean. Set the cake aside to cool completely before un-moulding.

Mint coffee frosting

• Mix 1 tsp gelatine with 3 tsp cold water and set aside to bloom.
• Add the kahlua coffee liquer and powdered sugar to the softened mascarpone cheese and whisk until creamy. Set aside.
• Whisk the heavy cream until stiff peaks. Separately add a tsp of heavy cream to the bloomed gelatine and microwave for 5 seconds. Stir and combine the gelatine with the cream once it is warmed. Add the gelatine cream mixture to the whipped cream together with 1 tbsp of coffee emulco and whisk gently just to combine.
• Add in the coffee mascarpone cheese, 1 tsp of peppermint extract, switch to a spatula and mix by hand until incorporated. Frosting is ready.

Assembly

• Level the top of the cake and slice it into two equal layers.
• Place the first layer on a cake board, layer on 1/4 of the mint coffee frosting. Repeat with 2nd cake layer and frost the whole cake well with the remaining frosting. Using the spatula, do a simple smudge and swirl pattern on the sides and top of the cake for a rustic look.
• Using a large closed star tip, pipe tall florets on the top of the cake. Decorate with peppermint candy canes just before serving. Enjoy.

Video

Notes

If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here 😊

 

#1 How to get the perfect coffee sponge cake

• Don’t over-whip the egg whites. They should be whipped to soft peaks only.

• Always whisk gently and slowly when adding the next ingredient, so as not to deflate the air built up in the batter.

• Make sure to fold in the flour well, especially scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure there are no unmixed flour pockets.

• Mix the flour in until just combined, do not overmix.

• The cake layers should bake immediately after the folding in the flour. They should not sit out for too long, otherwise the air in the batter could deflate.

• Always bake in a pre- heated oven. I baked at the lowest rack of the oven as the cake browned too quickly when it was baked at the middle rack. You may want to test out to see which rack level bakes best for your oven temperature. 

• Do not open the oven door to check the cake until towards the end when the baking is almost complete. Otherwise run the risk that the cake may sink in the middle due to the temperature change when the oven is opened.

 

#2 Coffee frosting

Do not over-whisk the coffee frosting or it will become grainy. I also do not use cold brewed coffee directly to flavour the cream as too much liquid in the coffee can cause the cream not to whip up.

Instead, I added Kahlua coffee liqueur (optional) and coffee emulco, an emulsion based flavouring to pump up the coffee notes. An alternative would be to dissolve instant coffee granules with a couple of tablespoons of warm cream and incorporate it into the frosting when it has cooled. That would work too.

If you love this Christmas Coffee Cake, check out my Coffee Doorstop Cake, it’s a real beaut.

 

#3 Peppermint candy canes

We love all mint flavoured stuff. Especially at Christmas. Give us mint chocolate, mint coffee, mint ice cream … anything MINT and we are happy puppies.

So if you have always wondered why the mint candy cane is a part of the Christmas experience - the story goes that in 1670, a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral handed out candy to children at their nativity mass to keep them occupied. The candy was further shaped to look like a shepherd's staff as a celebration of the birth of the Shepherd and the Christmas story.

Is this true? How it all actually started? I don’t know and I don’t mind because whoever started this tradition, thank you for it has become that something special our family loves so much at Christmas!

Do note that mint candy canes tend to sweat in hot humid Singapore weather so only put them on just before serving and they’ll be perfect. And if you are a mint lover like us, you may also like my Easy No Churn Mint Ice Cream.

 

#4 Make ahead & storage

I usually make the coffee sponge cake a couple of days ahead and keep it cling wrapped and well chilled in the refrigerator. On the day before serving, prepare the coffee whipped cream, frost the cake any way you like and store the Christmas Coffee Cake chilled until ready to serve. This Christmas Coffee Cake keeps well chilled for 2-3 days and is best consumed within this time frame.

 

Did you make this Christmas Coffee Cake? I would love to know how it turned out. Tell me more! 😊  Please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram, FB hashtag #thesugarcrumble