This moist, rich vanilla Kahlua cake is a light and airy butter-based layer cake. Frosted with Kahlua chocolate buttercream frosting this is perfect for a weekend treat, a celebration cake or when you need that coffee-flavored zing.
What is Kahlua?
Kahlua is a coffee liquor made from Mexican coffee beans and other ingredients like rum, corn syrup, vodka, and sugar. It has a high amount of caffeine. I believe Kahlua goes thru a seven-year process of making and has a long shelf life of four years.
About this cake
This is a light and airy butter-based vanilla cake infused with Kahlua coffee liquor. The cake is surprisingly simple and easy to make using sour cream for richness and Kahlua for that added edge. Topped with a Kahlua buttercream frosting this cake is perfect for a weekend dessert or any celebration with family and friends.
There are so many variations you can do with this cake, such as making it a chocolate Kahlua cake instead of vanilla. Or you may prefer to keep it a vanilla Kahlua cake with vanilla frosting instead of chocolate. Add some espresso to enhance the coffee flavor, or add chocolate chips and make it a chocolate chip
Ingredients and substitutes
- All-purpose flour - Yes, regular plain flour (maida) is all you need for these cakes. Do not use any self-raising flour since those contain more leavening.
- Butter - I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can control the quantity of sugar in my recipe. And yet, if salted butter is all you have to go ahead and use it. Just omit salt in the recipe.
- Sour cream - Gives the cake a soft crumb. If you don't get sour cream where you are, you can also make sour cream at home. Here's how to make sour cream at home for baking. And if you must, yogurt is always a great substitute for sour cream. Buttermilk is another choice but is less thick than sour cream or yogurt, try my homemade buttermilk in 5 minutes.
- Brown sugar - The molasses in the brown sugar contributes to the soft texture. You can also add dark brown sugar, and yet the cake will get a deeper color.
- Eggs - Always use large size eggs when baking unless specified. The size of eggs varies significantly these days, so as a guide, a large egg weighs between 50 to 60 grams.
- Vanilla - A good quality vanilla will make a huge difference in anything you make. Premium vanilla can be expensive, which is why I make my own homemade vanilla extract, bean paste or sugar.
What other frosting cake can I use for this Kahlua cake?
There are so many other choices for frosting. I have over 30 plus frosting recipes on this blog. And I highly recommend checking them out.
Step by step instructions (Save/Pin)
Prepare cake
- Preheat the oven to 160 C/320 F.
- Grease and line three 6 inch round baking pans or 2 x 7-inch round baking pans.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla and Kahlua, followed by the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the flour and sour cream alternating in three batches.
- Pour into the prepared baking pans.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely before baking.
Prepare Kahlua buttercream frosting
- Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl or double boiler – set aside to cool.
- Cream the butter with Kahlua and vanilla.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar and continue to cream until light and fluffy.
- Lastly, combine the cooled melted chocolate.
Decorate
- Prepare simple syrup - cool completely before using.
- Once cooled, cut the domes off the cake layers.
- Brush each layer with the cooled simple syrup.
- Place a cake layer on the cake board or cake stand.
- Top with a big dollop of frosting - spread evenly.
- Then top the second cake layer on top followed by more filling and the last cake layer.
- Place the cake in the fridge if necessary, so the layers hold together.
- Spread the remaining frosting around and top of the cake.
- Create a rustic buttercream look by simply swirling the spatula in a circular motion.
- You can pipe any remaining frosting as swirls on top of the cake.
- I decorated with white and milk chocolate balls.
Storage
- Once decorated the cake does not need to be refrigerated.
- It can stay at room temperature for three days or in the fridge for up to a week.
- Once cut always cover the cut side of the cake with cling/plastic wrap so the cake does not dry out.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can - use my eggless vanilla cake and replace ¼ cup liquid in the recipe with ¼ cup Kahlua.
If you don't want to make a layer cake like this one, you can make this into a sheet cake - a 'Kahlua Sheet Cake'. You can also pour the batter into a well-greased and dusted bundt pan for a 'Kahlua Bundt Cake'.
This recipe can also be baked into 24 beautiful cupcakes.
Yes, you can use Baileys instead of Kahlua. I love to use my homemade Butterscotch Irish Cream. Other alcohol can be used as well, try Cointreau, whiskey, rum, brandy.
Absolutely, just replace 2 tbsp of the flour with 2 tbsp of cocoa powder. Combine the cocoa powder to the dry ingredients before adding it to the batter.
Absolutely, if you want to make this a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting just use my Vanilla buttercream frosting instead of chocolate. I have many other frosting recipes with step by step pictures as well as videos for you to try. See my 30+ buttercream frosting recipes.
Kahlua is a coffee liquor but if you want to enhance the coffee flavor you can replace 2 tbsp of sour cream with ¼ cup brewed coffee.
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Vanilla Kahlua Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream
Print Pin RateDescription
Ingredients
Make one - 6"x3 layer cake or 7"x 2 layer cake
For the cake
- 8 oz (227 g) Butter (2 sticks) unsalted, room-temperature
- 1 ¼ cup (275 g) Light brown sugar
- 3 Eggs large
- 2 ½ cups (310 g) All-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- ¼ cup (60 ml) KahluaÂ
- ½ cup (120 ml) Sour cream
For the Kahlua chocolate buttercream
Plus
- ½ cup (120 ml) Simple syrup
- 10 Chocolate balls (white or milk chocolate)
Instructions
Prepare cake
- Preheat the oven to 160 C/320 F.
- Grease and line three 6 inch round baking pans or 2 x 7-inch round baking pans.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla and Kahlua, followed by the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the flour and sour cream alternating in three batches.
- Pour into the prepared baking pans.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely before baking.
Prepare Kahlua buttercream frosting
- Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl or double boiler – set aside to cool.
- Cream the butter with Kahlua and vanilla.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar and continue to cream until light and fluffy.
- Lastly, combine the cooled melted chocolate.
Decorate
- Prepare simple syrup - cool completely before using.
- Once cooled, cut the domes off the cake layers.
- Brush each layer with the cooled simple syrup.
- Place a cake layer on the cake board or cake stand.
- Top with a big dollop of frosting - spread evenly.
- Then top the second cake layer on top followed by more filling and the last cake layer.
- Place the cake in the fridge if necessary, so the layers hold together.
- Spread the remaining frosting around and top of the cake.
- Create a rustic buttercream look by simply swirling the spatula in a circular motion.
- You can pipe any remaining frosting as swirls on top of the cake.
- I decorated with white and milk chocolate balls.
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
