Irish Coffee Cake Recipe

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: My unbeatable Irish Coffee Cake Recipe is delectably tender and has a celebratory twist—Irish whiskey gives it an unbeatable depth of flavor and a zip of warming cheer straight from Ireland!

• Cake, crumble, and glaze: Sweet vanilla icing and buttery cinnamon crumble crown the whiskey-accented cake.
• Plush, soft crumb: Most coffee cakes are all about the streusel, but in my version, the cake is equally tempting!
• Sweet and sophisticated: Mellow booziness, brown sugar toffee notes, and vanilla boosted by warm coffee flavor come together perfectly.
• All-day favorite: This versatile cake works for brunch, dessert, or as the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee.
• Ready in under 90 minutes! Prep time is only 25 minutes—make the streusel ahead, and it’s even quicker.

Irish whiskey isn’t just a fun twist for Saint Patrick’s Day—its smoky-sweetness adds incredible depth, making this cake extra tender and moist. I use my family’s O’Driscolls Irish Whiskey from the south of Ireland for its exceptional quality, smoothness, and mellow flavor, thanks to triple distillation and aging in bourbon casks. It infuses this cake with hints of vanilla and honey, perfect for your whiskey-inspired recipes this March. You’ll love Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, O’Driscolls Irish Cream, Whiskey Chocolate Mousse, or Irish Whiskey Crème Brûlée.

What makes my Irish Coffee Cake truly special is its beautiful simplicity. Like many traditional Irish recipes, it’s crafted from kitchen staples, with an added surprise: two tablespoons of instant espresso powder. This enhances the cake’s depth of flavor, perfectly complementing the Irish whiskey. For the best results, ensure your eggs, butter, and milk are at room temperature to create the perfect blend. The coffee adds a lovely richness that pairs beautifully with the whiskey.

Table of Contents

• What is Irish Coffee Cake?
• Tools You Need
• Key Ingredients and Why
• How to Make Irish Coffee Cake Recipe
• Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips
• Make Ahead and Store Instructions
• FAQs
• More Baking with Whiskey Recipes

What is Irish Coffee Cake?

• My Irish Coffee Cake Recipe makes a tender, buttery cake with a vanilla-flavored base enhanced by espresso and Irish whiskey. A cinnamon streusel topping and a vanilla glaze add additional layers of delightful flavor and texture.
• This supremely moist and lush streusel cake is super-satisfying, especially if you’re used to store-bought coffee cake which is often over-sweet and dry. In my recipe, yogurt, milk, butter, and the whiskey all contribute a velvety crumb and prevent toughness and dryness.
• Modern coffee cake originated as “streuselkuchen,” a 16th-century German cake topped with sweet buttery crumbs. Immigrants to the U.S. brought this buttery, cinnamon-flavored cake to the U.S., and by the late 19th century it was a familiar treat.

Tools You Need

• Mixing bowls
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups
• Glass measuring jug
• Kitchen scale (optional)
• Spoon
• 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan
• Parchment paper
• Whisk
• Stand mixer (optional) or electric hand mixer
• Silicone spatula

Key Ingredients and Why

For the cake

All-purpose flour

• All-purpose flour, with a protein content of 9 to 11%, ensures that the cake is sturdy enough while still having a tender crumb.
• All-purpose flour is the best choice here because the cake must have enough structure to support the crumb topping. Using cake flour could result in a cake that’s too delicate.
• Substitute: If you want to make a gluten-free cake, substitute an equal amount of 1:1 gluten-free baking mix, or my Easy Almond Flour Baking Mix for the all-purpose flour.

Butter

• Butter adds richness and flavor.
• Creaming the butter and sugar results in an airy mixture that makes the cake lighter and fluffier.
• Butter coats the flour, which inhibits excessive gluten formation, keeping the cake tender.
• Be sure to use softened butter here. Here’s how to take the chill off butter from the fridge.
• Substitute: In place of the butter, use six tablespoons of sour cream or Greek yogurt (Greek yogurt’s thickness makes it a good substitute).

Baking powder

• Baking powder keeps the cake from being heavy and dense.
• It provides a controlled rise, which contributes to a stable structure.

Baking soda

• When baking soda is combined with an acidic ingredient like the yogurt or brown sugar in this recipe, it causes a chemical reaction that creates carbon dioxide bubbles that will make the cake light and fluffy.
• You won’t have to worry about running out when you learn How to Make Baking Powder and Baking Soda!

Whole milk

• In the cake:
  • Whole milk gives the cake moisture, richness, and adds a note of sweetness.
  • Use room temperature milk here.
  • Substitute: Use an equal amount of unsweetened almond, oat, or coconut milk.

Salt

• A pinch of salt enhances the cake’s flavors and balances out the sweetness.

Plain yogurt

• Yogurt is acidic, so it tenderizes the gluten, which makes the cake soft.
• Use room-temperature yogurt here.
• Make homemade plain yogurt using my How to Make Yogurt recipe!
• Substitute: Use an equal amount of sour cream.

O’Driscolls Irish whiskey

• O’Driscolls Irish Whiskey adds unique flavor with its delightful booziness and vanilla, toffee, and caramel notes.
• Importantly, O’Driscolls Irish Whiskey is triple-distilled and aged in bourbon casks for three years, which gives it unparalleled smoothness compared to other whiskeys, such as Scotch and bourbon.

Instant espresso powder

• There’s just a small amount of espresso powder, but it complements the Irish whiskey beautifully and makes the cake’s flavor richer and more complex.
• If you wish, you can omit the instant espresso powder.

Vanilla extract

• Vanilla extract harmonizes perfectly with the Irish whiskey and espresso flavors, and vanilla adds its own soft, warm, floral note.
• Substitutions: 
  • Use an equal amount of Vanilla Bean Paste.
  • Use a 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract in place of 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (since almond extract is more intense than vanilla extract, use half of the amount).

Granulated sugar

• Sugar sweetens the cake.
• Sugar locks in moisture to keep the cake soft.
• Substitute:
  • Check out my Sugar Substitute Chart for alternatives.
  • Honey, maple syrup, or a sugar alternative like coconut sugar or stevia will work in this recipe.
  • Note that using a sugar substitute could result in a cake that differs in taste and texture from a cake made with granulated sugar.

Eggs

• Eggs are an emulsifier and bind all the ingredients together into a homogeneous batter.
• Eggs must always be at room temperature in baking unless specified otherwise, because room-temperature eggs create a smooth and cohesive cake batter.
• Here’s how to get your eggs to room temperature quickly.
• Substitute: You can use an additional 1/2 cup (107g/ 3 ¾ oz) of yogurt (1/4 cup per egg), ½ cup (120ml/ 8oz) of buttermilk, or flaxseed eggs (use one tablespoon ground flaxseed plus three tablespoons water per egg, mix, and set aside for 5 minutes before adding to the batter).

For the topping

All-purpose flour

• Flour gives the streusel structure.

Dark brown sugar

• Brown sugar sweetens the streusel and adds caramel and molasses notes.
• Using dark brown sugar in the streusel keeps it moist and soft.
• You only need white sugar and molasses to make your own brown sugar!
• Substitute: You can use an equal amount of light brown sugar.

Cinnamon

• Cinnamon adds a sweetly spicy flavor and a lovely comforting scent to the streusel.

Butter

• The butter holds the dry ingredients together in crumbles.
• The butter gives the streusel rich flavor.
• Substitute: Use an equal amount of coconut oil.

For the glaze

Whole milk

• Whole milk mixed with powdered sugar and vanilla gives the glaze a rich texture that’s still easy to drizzle.
• Substitute: Use an equal amount of unsweetened almond, oat, or coconut milk.

Vanilla extract

• Vanilla is the primary flavor in this simple glaze.
• Substitutions:
  • Use an equal amount of Vanilla Bean Paste. If this makes your glaze too thick to drizzle easily, and a bit more milk.
  • I don’t recommend substituting another extract for the vanilla, as this delicate glaze should not overpower the streusel and cake.

Powdered sugar

• Powdered sugar is finely ground granulated sugar that forms the base of the glaze.
• Make sure to sift powdered sugar before using it to ensure your glaze is smooth.
• My How to Make Powdered Sugar recipe shows you how to easily make a batch.

How to Make Irish Coffee Cake Recipe

Make the streusel

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Then stir in the melted butter until the mixture clumps together. Set aside.

Prepare to bake the cake

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and butter and line with parchment a 9-inch (23 cm) round springform pan. Set aside.

Make the cake

3. Mix the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. Combine wet ingredients with espresso powder: In a measuring jug, whisk together the milk, yogurt, whiskey, espresso powder and vanilla extract. Set aside.
5. Cream butter and sugar: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or with a handheld electric mixer and a large bowl), cream the butter and sugar together for about 3 minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in eggs: Add in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice to ensure even mixing.
7. Combine wet and dry ingredients: Turn the mixer speed to low and stir in one third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the milk mixture. Continue alternating until all of the ingredients are just combined.

Top with streusel and bake

8. Top batter with streusel: Spread the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top.

9. Bake: Bake for about 60 minutes, or until the streusel is golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Cool: Let rest for 15 minutes, then release the sides of the pan and let cool completely.

Make glaze and finish the cake

11. Mix glaze: In a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of milk and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. The glaze should be thick and opaque but pourable. If it is too thick, add a little more milk, a few drops at a time, until you reach the correct consistency.
12. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and let set for about 10 minutes before serving.

FULL WRITTEN RECIPE (PRINTABLE) BELOW!

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

• Make ahead: You can make several batches of this streusel at once and store it in small bags in your freezer for future baking.
• Room temp check: Be sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you begin.
• Egg warm-up: If your eggs are cold, place them in a bowl of hot tap water for 5 minutes.
• Whiskey substitute: You can replace the whiskey with rum or brandy if you wish.
• Alcohol-free option: If you want to make this cake alcohol free, replace the whiskey with the same amount of milk.
• Keep it moist: Take care not to over-work the batter—stop when the ingredients are just combined. Remove the cake from the oven when it is golden-brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Add-ins:
  • Stir in a tablespoon of chopped orange zest for a citrus twist
  •  If you’d like, fold one cup of the following mix-ins after you combine the wet and dry ingredients:
    • Toasted, chopped walnuts or pecans
    • Bittersweet chopped chocolate
    • Chopped dried cherries or dates

Make Ahead and Store Instructions

• Make ahead tips:
  • You can make the streusel ahead and store it at room temperature (if your kitchen is cool) for up to one day.
  • For longer storage, place the streusel in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to one month.
    • Bring to room temperature before sprinkling on cake and baking.
• For more extended storage, place the streusel on baking sheet and freeze until firm. Place in a freezer bag and freeze for up to three months.
• Let the streusel come to room temperature before sprinkling on the cake and baking.
• How to store leftovers: 
  • Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
  • For more extended storage: This cake freezes for up to 8 weeks, well-wrapped in cling wrap.

FAQs

Can I make this Irish cake gluten-free?

• Yes, you can make this Irish cake gluten-free.
  • Substitute an equal amount of gluten-free baking mix or my Easy Almond Flour Baking Mix.
  • Check your other ingredients to ensure they’re certified gluten-free.
  • Note that the texture and taste of the cake may differ from cake made from the original recipe.

Is it possible to make this cake without eggs?

• Yes, you can make this cake without eggs.
• In this recipe, eggs emulsify the ingredients together, and give the cake structure and moisture.
• Good substitutes to use would be an additional 1/2 cup of yogurt (1/4 cup per egg), or 1/2 cup of buttermilk, or flaxseed eggs (use one tablespoon ground flaxseed plus three tablespoons water per egg, mix and set aside for 5 minutes before adding to batter.)
• Note that the texture and taste of the cake may differ from cake made from the original recipe.

Can I make this coffee cake without alcohol?

• Yes, you can make this cake without alcohol. Substitute the same amount of milk for the whiskey.

Irish Whiskey Cake and Pie Recipes

• Irish Whiskey Chocolate Meringue Tart
• Traditional Irish Whiskey Raisin Cake
• Irish Whiskey Butterscotch Pie
• Traditional Mince Pies
• Irish Chocolate Whiskey Cake

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