Skip to content
Spoon Dishes

Coffee Mattonella (No-Bake Cookie Cake)

Coffee Mattonella: dry cookies dipped in coffee and layered with a pasteurized-egg buttercream. A classic Italian no-bake dessert, easy and inexpensive.
Recipe Coffee Mattonella (No-Bake Cookie Cake)
  • Difficulty Medium
  • Preparation 30 minutes
  • Cooking 10 minutes
  • Servings for 9 people

Coffee Mattonella is an iconic dessert of Italian home baking, a timeless classic rooted in the family traditions of the 1980s. It is a layered “tile” (mattonella in Italian) of dry cookies dipped in coffee and filled with a silky buttercream made with pasteurized eggs, for a safe, modern method that keeps all the authentic taste of the past.

This spoon dessert belongs to the family of no-bake fridge desserts, similar in spirit to tiramisu but with its own personality, thanks to the richness of the vanilla buttercream. The version offered here uses the pasteurized egg technique with a cooked sugar syrup, ensuring a hygienically safe preparation suitable for the whole family, children included if you choose decaf coffee.

Coffee Mattonella is a dessert from Italy’s simple, homespun cooking tradition, able to evoke lasting memories and win you over at first bite thanks to the perfect harmony between the buttery sweetness of the cream and the bittersweet intensity of the coffee. Very easy to make, inexpensive and with no baking, it is one of the best make-ahead recipes for any occasion, from birthdays to family dinners and the Christmas or Easter holidays.

Ingredients for 9 people

Copy Ingredients List
Open in App

Method

  1. To make the Coffee Mattonella, start by making the coffee for the soak: brew it with a moka pot or an espresso machine, regular or decaf as you prefer, and let it cool completely without adding sugar.
  2. Make the buttercream with pasteurized eggs: in a small saucepan, bring the water and sugar to 121 °C (250 °F), checking with a probe thermometer. Meanwhile, whip the egg yolks with the seeds from the vanilla bean until pale and foamy.
    Coffee Mattonella (No-Bake Cookie Cake), step 2: whipping the egg yolks with vanilla seeds while the sugar syrup heats
  3. Pour the hot sugar syrup in a thin stream over the yolks, whipping continuously with the beaters until the mixture has cooled completely. Then add the softened, room-temperature butter in small pieces, one piece at a time, whipping until you have a smooth, even, silky cream.
    Coffee Mattonella (No-Bake Cookie Cake), step 3: buttercream whipped until smooth and silky
  4. Once the buttercream is ready, start assembling the Coffee Mattonella: dip each cookie in the cold coffee one at a time and arrange them on the serving plate to form a square layer of three cookies per side.
    Coffee Mattonella (No-Bake Cookie Cake), step 4: cookies dipped in coffee arranged in a square
  5. Cover the first layer of cookies with an even layer of buttercream about 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick. Continue alternating layers of soaked cookies and layers of cream until you have six layers in total, always finishing with a layer of cream.
    Coffee Mattonella (No-Bake Cookie Cake), step 5: a layer of buttercream spread over the cookies
  6. Transfer the remaining buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a star tip and decorate the top of the cake with neat rosettes of cream along the edges.
  7. Put the Coffee Mattonella in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving, so it firms up well. Before bringing it to the table, let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes, so the cream is softer and more pleasant to eat. Finally, remember to download our App with exclusive content and fewer ads!

Variations and Alternatives

If you are lactose intolerant, you can replace the butter with plant-based margarine or lactose-free butter without changing the structure of the cream. For the soak, you can choose regular or decaf coffee and add a tablespoon of coffee liqueur or amaretto for a more grown-up, aromatic touch. Instead of traditional dry cookies, you can use Pavesini (light, crisp Italian sponge cookies), arranging them in a baking dish for a more casual spoon dessert. The buttercream can be flavored as you like with extracts or oil-soluble food colorings, as long as the flavor you choose goes well with coffee. For a more classic shape, you can assemble the dessert in a loaf pan, giving it the traditional rectangular brick shape.

Tips

For more precise, defined decorations, put the buttercream in the fridge for about an hour before using it in the piping bag: it will be firmer and easier to work. Never sweeten the coffee soak, since the buttercream is already very sweet on its own. To keep the cookies from getting too soft, dip them quickly without leaving them to soak. You can decorate the top of the cake with sprinkles, chocolate shavings, cocoa powder or chocolate-covered coffee beans.

Storage

Coffee Mattonella keeps in the fridge, covered or in an airtight container, for 4-5 days without losing flavor or texture. You can freeze it whole or already divided into portions, in a closed container; to eat it, simply move it to the fridge a few hours ahead.

Comments