Coffee cake is the perfect treat to pair with a cup of tea and is incredibly easy to make as long as you have the right recipe.

Mary Berry’s coffee sponge sandwich cake only takes five minutes to prepare before it bakes in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, making a speedy and simple dessert.

In her cookbook ‘Fast Cakes: Easy Bakes in Minutes,’ Mary Berry described this coffee cake recipe as “a lovely change to a classic Victoria sponge.”

Sponge cakes are great to bake as they do not require a long list of instructions or complex ingredients, and you can likely make this coffee cake with ingredients you already have in your home.

The secret to making a sponge cake is making sure the butter temperature is perfect before baking. For the cake, the butter or baking spread needs to come cold straight from the fridge while the butter for the icing needs to have sat at room temperature before use.

Instructions 

Preheat the oven to 180C (Fan 160C or Gas Mark 4).

Grease the two sandwich tins and line the bases with baking paper.

Place the instant coffee in a bowl. Dissolve the instant coffee with one tablespoon of boiling water and mix until smooth.

Measure out the baking spread, caster sugar, self-rising flour, eggs and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the coffee mixture and beat until you have a well-blended and smooth batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the two sandwich tins and bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until well-risen.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes then turn them out onto a cooling wire rack, making sure to peel off the baking paper as you do so.

To make the icing, blend the butter, icing sugar and coffee essence together in a mixing bowl until you have a smooth icing.

Once the cake is completely cold, sandwich the cakes together with the icing and place onto a serving place.

Your delicious coffee cake is now ready. Sprinkle a little icing sugar on the top before serving.