Vietnamese Coffee Cake (2024)

This Vietnamese coffee cake incorporates the flavor of Vietnamese coffee into an amazing chocolate and coffee dessert.

This cake is not a cake from Vietnam that's served with coffee. Instead, it's a cake topped with an amazing sauce inspired by Vietnamese coffee.

The chiffon-like cake is light and airy and flavored with cocoa powder and Chinese five spice. It's then topped with the Vietnamese coffee-inspired sauce and a layer of whipped cream, sugar, vanilla, and mascarpone.

What is Vietnamese Coffee?

Typically, it's an individually brewed cup of coffee made with a "phin,"which is a four-piece filter gadget that you place over your cup that already has about a one-inch layer of sweetened condensed milk. When you first add the coffee, the layers of milk and coffee are distinct.

Once you've brewed your coffee over the condensed milk, mix everything together and pour it over ice for an amazingly delicious, sweet, and strong iced coffee.

This description is simplistic but it does describe Saigon-style Vietnamese coffee. Evidently, there is also Hanoi-style coffee, which includes whipped egg yolks.

This amazing cake consists of three components. First, there is a chiffon-like chocolate five spice cake layer. The cake is a single layer that you make in a 9- by 13-inch cake pan. What I love about this cake, besides the light and airy texture and flavor, is that it stays fresh for at least four days.

The second component is the Vietnamese coffee inspired sauce. It adds so much strong and sweet coffee flavor and adds more moisture to the cake. The sauce is also amazing over ice cream or mixed into milk over ice.

Coffee was first introduced to Vietnam by the French in the mid 1800s. Today, Vietnam produces 20 percent of the world's coffee beans (heritageline.com, retrieved April, 2023). Because milk is not a Vietnamese staple, the French had to import it... thus, the addition of shelf-stable condensed milk.

Ingredients in this Vietnamese Coffee Cake (shopping list):

This cake was inspired by a cake from The Slanted Door restaurant of San Francisco's cookbook. In the book it is called "chocolate tres leches cake." The recipe was re-jiggered by Milk Street Magazine (a magazine to which you need to subscribe if you don't already).

The Slanted Door, created by chefCharles Phan, is temporarily closed but will hopefully re-open.

For the Cake:

Cake flour

Cocoa powder: I used Dutch process, but natural would be fine too.

Chinese five-spice powder

From your pantry: Baking powder, kosher salt, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla

For the Coffee Sauce:

Instant espresso powder (do not substitute instant coffee)

Sweetened condensed milk, milk, vanilla extract, and salt

For the Whipped Cream:

Heavy cream

Mascarpone (the magical secret ingredient)

Powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and kosher salt

Make-Ahead:

You can make all of the components in advance. The sauce and the whipped cream will keep fresh in the refrigerator up to three to four days.

Keep the cake covered in plastic wrap in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature. If the cake gets a little dry, you can always poke holes in the cake, a la tres leches cake, before pouring over the sauce.

More Vietnamese-Style Recipes You May Also Enjoy:

Zucchini and Carrot Salad

Beef Stew

Pan-Fried Halibut with Lemon Grass

Meatballs with Rice Noodles

Pork and Shrimp Spring Rolls

Chicken and Rice Soup

Quick Beef Pho

For Another Cake that is Coffee Flavored:

Walnut Espresso Cake- the frosting is amazing.

Here are today’s #BrunchWeek recipes:

• Air Fryer French Toast Sticksfrom Palatable Pastime
• Chocolate Chip Coffee Cakefrom Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Coconut Chicken and Wafflesfrom The Spiffy Cookie
• Strawberry Thumbprint Donutsfrom A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Vietnamese Coffee Cakefrom Karen's Kitchen Stories