This Chocolate Mocha Cake is the ultimate indulgence. A rich dark chocolate cake with a silky mocha Swiss meringue cream.
This cake here? That’s wonderful. I mean, she knocked Momofuku Birthday Cake right off the #1 spot, and that was a good cake.
This chocolate mocha cake is seriously. SO. GOOD.
Rich dark chocolate cake and a silky Mocha Swiss Meringue cream, topped with a dreamy chocolate ganache. Does it get better? I do not think so.
If you followed Liv for cake for a while, you know this is one of my oldest recipes (and one of my favorites). If you haven’t tried it, you MUST. You won’t regret it.
Frosting is my favorite thing ever – you’ll eat it with a spoon and thank me later.
How to make this mocha cake
For the cake layers I used my favorite Chocolate cake recipe modified a bit for the 6 inch pans and used hot coffee instead of hot water in the cake batter. You can’t really taste the coffee, maybe just a little, but it helps the chocolate taste stand out.
I like to use Dutch-process cocoa powder as it is richer in flavor, but any regular cocoa powder will work just fine.
Buttercream Mocha
THIS, folks, is honestly the best thing you will ever eat. Swiss Chocolate Espresso Meringue Silk Cream. It’s pure heaven!
The recipe calls for immediate espresso powder (not granules). This is a very fine powder and should be perfectly distributed in the buttercream.
Some people had the problem of espresso powder flecks in their buttercream because it didn’t dissolve completely. This may be due to the brand of espresso powder used. This is the brand I use it and it works very well. However, I have updated the recipe to include dissolving the espresso powder in 1 teaspoon of hot water first. However it is optional.
Can I use regular espresso or regular coffee?
No, you must use instant coffee that dissolves completely in water.
You can use regular instant coffee versus instant espresso powder, but you want to make it strong enough to suit the taste. I haven’t experimented with this myself, but it would be really cool. You can add as little or as much as you like.
How to make a polka dot cake
I kept the cake decorating simple as I wanted to do the drippy ganache technique. It’s surprisingly easy (I swear!), the key is getting your ganache to the right consistency which can take some trial and error.
Step #1 is to frost the cake evenly and smooth the sides and top. This is probably the most time intensive part if you want to make it perfect (which, of course, I do).
I used one small compensating shoulder to roughly frost the cake and then a bench scraper to soften everything. This is the part that took the longest.
I had to tweak a few areas here and there so it took a while to get it perfect. It really helps if you have a turntable to do this so you can spin it while holding the bench scraper at an angle.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a turntable, but I do NO recommend getting a plastic one. They aren’t super stable and don’t roll smoothly.
To get those smooth sides, you need a smooth spin! I use a lazy susan BY Ikea that works great.
After I got the top and sides PRINCIPALLY perfect, I put it all in the fridge and made the ganache.
After the ganache cooled and thickened a bit, I took out the cooled cake and used a teaspoon to drop dollops of ganache along the edges and let it run down the sides.
I added more/less in certain areas to change the points a bit. You could also pour a dollop of ganache over the top and use your offset spatula to push it over the sides, but I wanted a bit more control over the dots, and my research said the spoon technique was a good approach.
I was worried that the ganache would harden quickly on the chilled cake, but I had plenty of time to work with it. Once the dots were good, I poured some ganache on top to fill it in and smoothed it out with a small offset spatula.
it Butter Swiss Meringue it gets very firm in the fridge (like butter), so you’ll want to leave the cake out for a few hours before serving so it softens.
When I took pictures and cut the cake it was still hard so you can see it’s not quite silky smooth between the layers.
This Chocolate Mocha Cake is insanely good. Like, funny. It’s my favorite cake of all time!
I mean, just look at that part! The cake is dense, moist and ultra chocolatey. The buttercream is silky smooth and has the BEST mocha flavor ever.
You will not be disappointed with this cake. I promise!
More coffee flavored cupcake recipes
Notes and tips for this chocolate mocha cake
- The recipe as is will also work in two 8 inch pans. For three 8-inch pans, 1.5 times the recipe.
- To make cupcakes, all you have to do is reduce the baking time – start checking at 15 minutes or so.
- You can use regular cocoa powder if you don’t have a dutch process.
- For the cream, the coffee you use should be instant. See the post for more details.
- For the ganache, I let mine sit overnight (with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface). It will be very thick at this point, so I microwave it for 10 seconds and stir until it is the right consistency.
- The dotting technique works best on a cold cake so the dots set quickly.
- Be sure to check mine out Swiss Cream with Butter Meringue post for tips and troubleshooting.
- Learn how to keep your cakes moist by using Simple syrup.
- To ensure your cake layers bake nice and flat, see my How to bake flat cake layers post!
Mocha cake
This Chocolate Mocha Cake is the ultimate indulgence. A rich dark chocolate cake with a silky mocha swiss meringue cream.
sERVICE 12
Calories 613kcal
Ingredients
GUIDELINES
Chocolate cake:
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Preheat oven to 350F, grease three 6-inch round pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line the ends with parchment.
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Place all dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
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In a medium bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (pour the coffee slowly so as not to cook the eggs if they are too hot).
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Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix for 2-3 minutes. The dough will be very thin.
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Pour evenly into prepared pans. I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter was evenly distributed.
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Bake until cake tester comes out mostly clean. Total 30-35 minutes.
Buttercream Mocha:
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Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix until combined.*
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Place the bowl over a pot of 1-2″ boiling water and stir constantly with a whisk until the mixture is hot and no longer lumpy to the touch or reads 160F on a candy thermometer (about 3 minutes).
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Place the bowl in your stand mixer and beat on medium until the meringue is stiff and chilled (the bowl is no longer warm to the touch (about 5-10 minutes)
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Switch to drive attachment (optional). Slowly add the cubed butter and mix until smooth.
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Add the vanilla, melted chocolate and espresso powder. Beat until smooth.**
Assembly:
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Place one cake layer on a serving tray or plate. Pour approximately 2/3 cup cream over top and spread evenly. Repeat with the remaining layers and apply a thin layer of frosting to the entire cake. Cool for 20 minutes.
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Fry and smooth the sides. Cool for 20 minutes.
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Using a small spoon, place dollops of ganache around the top edges of the cooled cake, allowing some to drip down. Fill the top of the cake with more ganache and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
endnoteS
*Make sure there are no traces of egg yolk in your whites and that your mixer bowl and beater are completely fat-free or your meringue will not set.
** The buttercream may look like curd at some point. Continue mixing until completely smooth.
*** You can make the ganache in advance and let it sit overnight (with the wrap placed directly on the surface). It will be very thick at this point, so I microwave it for 5-10 seconds and stir until it is the right consistency.
Calories: 613kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 6gFat: 38gSaturated fat: 24gCholesterol: 103mgSodium: 406mgPotassium: 324mgFiber: 3gSugar: 46gVitamin A: 885wasCalcium: 71mgIron: 3.3mg
Nutritional information and metric conversions are automatically calculated. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favorite food calculator and/or metric conversion tool.
Originally published on August 23, 2015
