Dessert

Dalgona Coffee Frosted Chocolate Cake

Dalgona coffee frosted chocolate cake! Whipped coffee frosting on top of a moist chocolate cake, this is easy to make and tastes amazing!

To recipe
dalgona coffee frosted chocolate cake

Love this recipe?

Make meal planning easier with our new meal planner.

Save hours on meal planning
Smart grocery lists
500+ curated recipes
Print to PDF
Recipe insights & TIPS

It's the coffee drink that's taking social media by storm, Dalgona Coffee! But why not skip the drink version and top this moist homemade chocolate cake with my lightened up version of whipped Dalgona coffee frosting!

That's right, I turned the famous Dalgona coffee drink into frosting and it works! Being a dedicated coffee drinker and creating this iced coffee with vanilla cream and a tasty cold brew mocha I knew I could come up with something.

It took some experimenting and testing but I think I finally ended up with a frosting that can sit on top of a cupcake or sheet cake and still have the same flavor as your favorite Dalgona milk drink. I wasn't quite ready for how intense the basic mixture is which contains equal parts (2 tbsp's) of instant coffee, water and sugar.

The first time I tasted it I thought there would be no way to tame the strong taste of the whipped coffee. I tried adding butter which ended up as a goopy separated mess, I added powdered sugar but that just made it so sweet that it was almost inedible.

The ingredient that turned things around for me was cream cheese!

What is Dalgona coffee?

Dalgona coffee is the milky coffee drink made famous on TikTok and by a South Korean actor who said it reminded him of a favorite candy called Dalgona, hence the name. It can also be found as whipped coffee.

It's easy to make with the hardest part having to whip the ingredients together to create that fluffy butterscotch colored coffee cream.

Making frosting from a Dalgona coffee base

As I mentioned before, the base for my frosting recipe begins with the same recipe you'd use for the popular Dalgona coffee drink. You need to mix the hot water, instant coffee and sugar together until light and creamy.

I've seen people attempt to do this by hand but I definetely recommend using a hand held mixer which will complete the task in half the time it takes to mix it by hand, and your arm won't be aching so badly!The next step would be to tame the intense coffee flavor by adding the cream cheese and powdered sugar.

This makes the final frosting end up creamy and light but still with a great coffee flavor!

dalgona coffee cake squares on a board

Storing the frosting

Usually with any cream cheese frosting I'd keep it in the fridge for any long periods of time. This frosting will happily sit out at room temperature though for at least an hour and still hold its shape.

Because it's spread on cake, you want it to be at room temperature for serving and eating anyway or the cake will become dry. I haven't tried piping it on cupcakes or anything with some height but it seems a pretty strong frosting.

This recipe makes enough frosting to generously cover an 8x8 cake.

A white, fluffy chef's hat with an orange band, logo of Foodness Gracious.

Recipe

Tasty Dalgona coffee frosting spread on top of a moist chocolate cake!

Course:
Dessert
COOKing TIME:
23 minutes
Total TIME:
53 minutes
CUISINE:
American
PREP TIME:
30 minutes
SERVINGS:
9

Ingredients

FOR THE FROSTING

  • 2 tbsp hot water
  • 2 tbsp instant coffee
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

FOR THE CAKE

  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3 tbsp hot water
  • 3 tbsp melted butter
  • 6 tbsp buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg white

Ingredient Swaps

Instructions

  1. In a bowl combine the hot water, instant coffee and sugar.
  2. With a hand held mixer, whisk the ingredients until they become light and creamy, about 10 minutes.
  3. In another bowl using the same mixer and attachments, whisk the cream cheese and sugar until combined.
  4. Add the whipped coffee cream and whisk on medium until combined. Scrape down the bowl and whisk again.
  5. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE CAKE

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together.
  3. In another bowl combine the water and cocoa powder together with a hand whisk until it forms a paste.
  4. Add the butter, buttermilk, egg and egg white and whisk together.
  5. Add the flour mixture and on low speed whisk until a thick batter forms.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  7. Bake in the oven for 24 minutes then let cool before frosting.
  8. Once frosted keep in the fridge until you need to cut it or cut and serve at once.

Try Foodness Gracious
Meal Planner

1 month free
Access to all features
500+ recipes
A white, fluffy chef's hat with an orange band, logo of Foodness Gracious.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @foodnessgracious on Instagram and hashtag it #foodnessgracious so we can see all the deliciousness!