This Chocolate Coffee Cake is moist, rich, and creamy. Intense chocolate and coffee taste. 4 coffee-infused chocolate cake layers frosted with coffee cream frosting and topped with chocolate ganache.
The base of this cake are the chocolate coffee cake layers. Cocoa and espresso powder, as well as added hot coffee, guarantee a deep and strong taste of chocolate and coffee.
The soft and moist cake layers are frosted with a coffee mascarpone cream. A mascarpone cream is lighter than buttercream, and its taste fits perfectly with the coffee taste. The coffee cream tastes like a latte.
The chocolate glaze is on top is like the cherry on top of a super delicious milkshake. It brings the cake to the next level.
The cake is quick to make. Stir together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder. In another large bowl, mix oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Then stir in dry ingredients. In the end, slowly add hot coffee.
Then divide into two 8“ round cake pans equally and bake.
The easiest way to remove the baked cake from cake pans is to line the bottom and the sides with parchment paper rather than spray them with baking spray.
Therefore, cut out a circle for the bottom of the pan and strips for the sides. After the baked cake has cooled down, invert the pan onto your hand and transfer to a cooling rack. Top up and bottom down. I remove the paper just before I assemble the cake.
When you add a small amount of espresso powder to the cake, it normally doesn’t taste like coffee rather than enhances and deepens the chocolate taste in the cake.
That’s the reason why there is also 1 cup of hot coffee in the cake to bring a strong coffee taste into the cake.
The texture of the cake is just perfect! Seriously. It is the best texture of all cakes, I've ever had. Super moist, soft, and rich.
The inspiration for this frosting is from a coffee tiramisu I made for my mother recently. Starting from this recipe, I tweaked it a bit on the ingredients because I didn’t want to add raw eggs to the frosting. I replaced the eggs with heavy cream.
It’s super creamy, and the flavors support each other perfectly that the coffee is the star.
The cake is also for non-frequent-coffee-drinker like I am a hit! I don’t drink coffee regularly. Almost never. But this cake is just so well balanced that it has been a huge hit with non-coffee drinkers as well.
That chocolate ganache is crazy good! It is very easy to make with just 3 ingredients.
I encourage you to take high-quality chocolate for the ganache. The taste of the chocolate has a huge impact on the taste. The better the chocolate, the better the ganache.
Chop chocolate finely and place it in a heat-proof bowl. In another heat-proof bowl combine heavy cream and light corn syrup and microwave until very hot and almost boiling.
Then pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and let stand 2 minutes. Stir until combined and smooth.
Let the chocolate stand for about 10-15 minutes that it can cool down and firms up before pouring over the cake.
The longer the glaze stands, the more firm it gets. As you can see on the thick drips around this cake, I let my glaze stand a few minutes longer. When you google chocolate drip cake, you will see that most of the cake designers have small and accurate drips around their cakes compared to mine.
It's up to you. Design your cake how you love it. Test the consistency of your glaze down the sides of a bowl and spoon it on top of the cake when it has reached the desired consistency. If it is already too firm, re-warm it a few seconds in the microwave.
Remove cake from the refrigerator and spoon the glaze on top of the cold cake. Start with the sides and spoon the glaze around the edges that it drips down the sides. Do this little by little. One drip after another.
Then spoon the rest of the glaze on top of the cake and level with an offset spatula.
You may also like Caramel Apple Cake, Triple Chocolate Ombré Cake, Salted Caramel Popcorn Cake, or Fresh Cherry Cake.
Chocolate Coffee Cake Recipe
Ingredients
cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
- ¾ cup dutch-processed cocoa powder (65g)
- 1 ½ cups granulated white sugar (300g)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp espresso powder
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil (120ml)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup buttermilk (120ml)
- 1 vanilla bean* (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1 cup strong hot coffee (240ml)
frosting
- 2 ¼ cups mascarpone (500g)
- 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted (150g)
- ¼ cup strong hot coffee, room temperature (60ml)
- ¼ cup heavy cream (60ml)
ganache
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (6.1oz / 175g)
- ½ cup heavy cream (120ml)
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup (30ml)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line the bottom and the sides of two 8" (20cm) baking pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Cake: In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder and stir to combine. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl with a stand or handheld mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla* just until combined. Stir in dry ingredients to combine. Slowly mix in hot coffee until combined. The batter will be very thin. Divide batter into the two prepared baking pans equally. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Don't overbake. I baked mine for 22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for about 20 minutes. Then remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool to room temperature.
- Frosting: In a large mixing bowl with a stand or handheld mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat mascarpone until creamy. Sift in powdered sugar and mix until combined and sugar is dissolved. Add cooled hot coffee and stir until incorporated. Stir in heavy cream and mix until creamy.
- Assemble the cake: Cut a thin layer off the tops of your cakes to create a flat surface. Then cut each cake in half horizontally. Place one cake layer on a cake stand, turner or serving plate. Spread ¼ of the frosting over the cake. Repeat two more times. Place last cake layer on top and lightly frost the outside and the sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Chill at least 4 hours in the fridge or overnight.
- Ganache: Place chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Place heavy cream and corn syrup in another heatproof bowl and microwave until very hot, almost boiling for about 1-2 minutes. Pour over chocolate and let stand 1-2 minutes. Whisk until smooth, and the chocolate is completely melted. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes. Test the consistency of the glaze down the side of the bowl. It should drip. The longer it stands, the thicker it gets. If it is too firm, re-warm it a few seconds in the microwave. Once it reached the desired consistency, it's ready to spoon on top of the cake (read the blog post and watch 60-sec. video for additional information and better understanding).
- Remove cake from the fridge and spoon the glaze little by little around the sides and let it drip off the sided. Do this with a small spoon and do one drip at the time. Then spoon or pour the rest of the glaze on top of the cake (maybe you don't need all) and level with an offset spatula. Place cake in the fridge for 15 minutes that the glaze gets firm if needed. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days.
Video
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Hi Sabrine,
Thanks for this lovely recipe. I tried this yesterday and my batter looked a lot like yours. But when it came out from the oven it was too fragile and was breaking in pieces so in the end I couldn't assemble it (I wouldnt have been able to cut the cake in half to make 4 layers for sure). But it tasted amazing. I had to put 2 medium eggs instead of 2 large eggs. Do you think that was the issue?
Hi Sabine,
Super love the combination of coffee and chocolate.
How much instant coffee granules do I use to make a strong brewed coffee?
Thanks
Jacqui
Hi Jacqui, I'm really sorry but I can't answer this question. I think it depends on the brand. Maybe it stands on the package? It should be as strong as espresso for example.
Hi Sabine
What can I replace corn syrup with?
Thank you
Hi Ellyna, you can leave out the corn syrup without any replacement. It just adds extra shine to the glaze. Hope that helps!
What do I do if I can't find espresso powder?
It's fine to leave it out because the strong brewed coffee adds a strong coffee taste anyway. I hope that helps.
My cake was almost like a brownie
I'm sorry to hear that. Did the batter ever look like in the video and the photos? Could be that the ingredients were not measured correctly or it was underbaked.
Hello. Instead of Mascarpone can I use Cream Cheese for the icing instead? We dont have that herw.
Hi Charleen, cream cheese is very similar to mascarpone in texture. So a replacement with cream cheese would work. However, the taste will be completely different. Maybe you have to tweak the recipe to your taste.
Hi! Is it ok to use butter instead of oil for the cakes?
Hi, I don't recommend using butter for this chocolate coffee cake. Because of the high amount of liquids in the batter, it needs to have a fat and rich liquid in it to keep it moist. With butter, the cake could turn out crumbly and dry.
Hi Sabine! It's so exciting that you're getting closer to your big move! ???? This cake is absolute perfection - I love your ganache drips - and the coffee, chocolate and mascarpone sound divine together. ????
Hi Krista, Thank you so much! I’m really excited about our move. I’m happy that you like the cake. 🙂 Happy baking!
I made this cake and it is delicious. Came out looking like picture. Everyone wanted to make one.
I'm so happy that it turned out great and you liked it!
Hi.Can l bake it in one bigger pan ??!! Tanks ????Mona Shora
Hi Mona, you can bake it in two 9" baking pans. But consider that the layers are then thinner as in the pictures. Maybe you make just a two-layered cake in this case. The baking time will be shorter. So check if it's baked through after 15 minutes with a toothpick. Happy baking (: