This brown sugar salted caramel cake is everything that you love about a latte in cake form! We have a brown sugar vanilla bean cake soaked in espresso and filled with a gooey salted caramel. Then it’s all finished with a salted caramel ‘cream cheese’ frosting that’s topped with flaky sea salt. This cake is ridiculously soft, rich, and tender, and you’ll never believe me when I tell you it’s all vegan- no eggs, no dairy!

salted caramel latte cake slice on a plate

Tell me about this salted caramel latte cake:

I personally love a shaken brown sugar latte, and I also love my salted caramel cake. So what if we combined them into one freaking delicious dessert? The result is insane. Here’s what you need to know:

  • This cake is ridiculously soft & tender. We have a brown sugar vanilla cake base that bakes up to be so wonderfully “buttery” without any real butter!
  • The pools of caramel sweeten the espresso soak beautifully. Once baked, we’re going to brush the cake with espresso and fill pockets of gooey salted caramel so there’s truly caramel in every bite.
  • The salted caramel frosting is spoon-worthy. It takes everything in my to not eat the bowl of frosting before it makes it to the cake! We’re incorporating caramel into the actual frosting, and it is SUCH a treat!
  • You only need a bowl and a whisk! I’m serious. This is one of the easiest cakes, despite its name. You won’t believe how simple and quick this cake is to make.
  • The entire recipe is VEGAN! No eggs, no dairy, and yet you’d never know 🙂 I PROMISE!
sliced latte cake

Assembling your vegan brown sugar salted caramel latte cake:

For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.

baked cake
espresso soaked cake
poking holes into the cake
filling the cake with caramel
finished cake
slice and serve cake

Tips for making this recipe:

Let everything cool to room temperature. That means the cake, the espresso, and the caramel. The frosting we want to be room temperature as well (but it’s actually going to be warming to room temperature). This is because if there’s any heat in any of the three components mentioned previously, the frosting risks melting right off the cake!

Use cake flour if you can. It will yield the most lovely soft texture in your cake!

For the vegan butter: I’m using a homemade version that I can’t quite share just yet. However, I do test with a few store bought varieties (not with Miyoko’s though anymore, after the company switched to a new owner). Plant Crock will work the best for the vegan caramel in my experience!

You can use decaf if needed. I’m also about that decaf life, so I always use decaf espresso powder when making this salted caramel latte cake. The taste is the same, and you don’t get the jitters from the caffeine and sugar ha!

bitten cake
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sliced latte cake

MOIST Salted Caramel Latte Cake – Made Vegan!

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  • Author: Britt Berlin
  • Prep Time: 20
  • Cook Time: 40
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 12 1x
  • Category: Cake
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Dairy-Free, Vegan
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Description

This brown sugar salted caramel cake is everything that you love about a latte in cake form! We have a brown sugar vanilla bean cake soaked in espresso and filled with a gooey salted caramel. Then it’s all finished with a salted caramel ‘cream cheese’ frosting that’s topped with flaky sea salt. This cake is ridiculously soft, rich, and tender, and you’ll never believe me when I tell you it’s all vegan- no eggs, no dairy!

Ingredients

Scale

  1. Vegan Vanilla Cake:

    • 1 1/4 cup (300 mL) vegan buttermilk
    • 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
    • 3/4 cup (150 g) light brown sugar
    • 1 cup (220 g) salted vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
    • 1/4 cup (60 mL) neutral oil, such as avocado oil, olive oil, or sunflower oil 
    • 1 cup (240 g) dairy free yogurt, room temperature*
    • 2 tbsp vanilla extract (yes, 2 tablespoons!!)
    • 3 tsp baking powder
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • 1/4 tsp sea salt
    • 4 cups (500 g) cake flour (see notes for all-purpose flour or gluten free 1:1 baking flour)
    • Optional (but recommended): 1/4 tsp vanilla powder or vanilla bean paste

    Caramel latte cake filling:

    Frosting:

Instructions

  1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a 9×9 baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. Make the batter: Whisk together with the sugar, light brown sugar, dairy free yogurt, and vanilla extract and paste. Then add in the baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt and whisk again. Add in the cake flour, and pour in the vegan buttermilk as you gently whisk JUST until the dry ingredients are incorporated (it doesn’t have to be a super smooth batter- DON’T over mix).
  3. Bake: Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean the cake passes the bounce back test with a lightly golden top. 
    1. While the cake is baking: prepare a batch of the vegan salted caramel, and set aside to cool to room temperature. There should be NO warmth whatsoever to the caramel. Prepare a portion of espresso as well (allowing it to cool to room temperature as well). 
  4. Cool: Let the cake fully cool before assembling. There should be absolutely no warmth in any of the of the components. 
  5. Assemble: We’ll assemble the espresso and caramel portions first. Brush the top of the cake with the espresso using a pastry brush. Then use a large skewer, and poke holes into the top of the cake, like in the photos above. You want to go only about 1/2″ into the cake with skewer, not all the way through. Fill a piping bag with 1/3 of the cooled salted caramel, and pipe the caramel into the holes you made using the skewer.
  6. Make the frosting: When you’re ready to frost, make the cream cheese frosting according to instructions. Then add in 1/3 of the salted caramel from the batch to the frosting and whisk until incorporated. 
  7. Finish assembly: Frost the cake with the salted caramel frosting on top. Drizzle the remaining salted caramel onto the frosting and top with flaky sea salt.
  8. Slice and enjoy! Store any leftovers in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 7 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. 

Notes

Flour: You can use all purpose flour, but the best results will be with cake flour.