This chocolate mocha cake is rich in flavour, comprising of a fudgy chocolate cake with silky mocha swiss meringue buttercream.

I had a lot of fun making this cake. Why? because it was so effortlessly convenient. The fact that I had leftover Swiss meringue buttercream made it easier. All I needed was instant espresso powder, which I mixed into the buttercream and that was it!

Most of the ingredients for the chocolate cake are readily available. I bet you could make chocolate cake right away without necessarily going shopping. However, there are essential ingredients that you wouldn’t want to miss for a rich, dark, fudgy chocolate cake. Ingredients that you will want to have on hand when baking a successful chocolate cake. I promise the indulgence precedes the hustle.

Brown sugar. Packed with molasses hence enhancing flavour and moisture in chocolate cake.
Alkalized cocoa powder. Will enhance the chocolate flavour while making the cake have a deep dark chocolate colour.
Instant coffee powder. Coffee powder enhances the chocolate flavour in the cake.
A bar of good quality dark chocolate. If you prefer the chocolate cake fudgier.

Remember that you could make chocolate cake without the brown sugar, use regular cocoa powder, and skip the coffee and the chocolate. However, you will be missing out!

This chocolate mocha cake is a one pan cake, however, the batter is enough to fill two small cake pans. Me and my love for coffee, coupled with my unashamed addiction to everything chocolate, was so eager to start munching on this cake that I did not wait for it to completely cool before frosting it. And that’s how I ended up with a melted delectable with very few pictures. So keep watch and only frost the cake when it is completely cooled. If you can wait!

Mocha swiss meringue buttercream.

Probably the best part of the cake, if you ask me.

To make mocha swiss meringue buttercream, you will need vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. Adding instant espresso powder to buttercream can be problematic as some of the granules may not dissolve. Therefore, I recommend mixing powdered espresso with 1-2 tablespoons hot coffee to a thick syrup, then adding to the buttercream.

If you find swiss meringue buttercream to be a bit of a hustle then feel free to use; American buttercream, condensed milk buttercream, whipped cream infused with espresso or ganache.

Tips to observe when making chocolate mocha cake.

Completely cool the chocolate cake before frosting with the buttercream, to keep it from melting.

For a fudgy, dark, rich in flavour chocolate cake use alkalized cocoa powder, brown sugar, instant coffee powder and a bar of finely chopped dark chocolate in the cake batter.

Mix powdered instant espresso powder with hot water to the swiss meringue buttercream instead of adding the powder directly into the buttercream.
If swiss meringue buttercream is a bit of a hustle, feel free to substitute it with American buttercream, dalgona coffee, whipped cream, ganache or condensed milk buttercream.

Other coffee Recipes to try.

CHOCOLATE MOCHA CAKE.

Recipe by WinnieCourse: Dessert, cakeDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Baking time

minutes

Ingredients

Chocolate cake
350 gm all-purpose flour
280 gm brown sugar
80 gm granulated sugar
250 ml oil
40 gm sifted alkalized cocoa powder/ Dutch-processed cocoa
4 eggs
230 ml milk
1/4 tsp salt
30 grams instant coffee powder
1 tbs baking powder
80 ml hot coffee
300 gm chopped dark chocolate
Mocha swiss meringue buttercream.
3-4 tsp hot espresso
100 gm egg whites
220 gm castor sugar
300 gm unsalted room temperature butter
100 gm chopped dark chocolate ( for garnishing)

Directions

Chocolate cake
Preheat the oven to 170C, butter and flour the cake pan then set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix sifted flour, baking powder, sifted cocoa powder, and instant coffee powder.
In a separate bowl, mix both the sugars with oil, milk and eggs. Then pour in hot coffee, stirring continuously.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients then, pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out mostly clean. Note that It will not come out completely clean since there are chocolate pieces that will have melted during baking.
Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool completely before frosting.
Mocha Swiss meringue buttercream
In a bowl, mix fresh egg whites with castor sugar. Place the bowl over simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture reads 150F on a thermometer or until it is warm and no longer grainy.
Remove from heat using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whip to form a stiff meringue.
Add cubed room temperature butter gradually while still mixing. The mixture will cuddle and then smoothen.
Add 2 or 3 teaspoons of hot espresso and mix just for a few seconds to combine.
Assembly
Top the cooled chocolate cake with buttercream and garnish with chopped chocolate.

Notes

Always frost on a completely cooled cake.
Try out other mocha infused frostings such as American buttercream, ganache, whipped cream or condensed milk buttercream.
Alkalized cocoa powder will enhance the chocolate flavour and also make the chocolate cake darker in colour.

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