Two-Layered Moist Chocolate Cake With Coffee
This two-layered moist chocolate cake with coffee, topped with chocolate buttercream icing, may make you think it will taste like coffee, but I promise you, you can't taste it at all.
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- ¾ cups Cocoa Powder
- 1 cup Espresso Coffee (premade)
- 1¾ cups Plain Flour
- 1½ tsp Baking Powder
- 1½ tsp Bi-Carb Soda
- 2 cups White Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 large Eggs (room temp)
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- ½ cup Sour Cream
- ½ cup Canola Oil
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Chocolate Buttercream Icing Ingredients
- 250 g Unsalted Butter
- 3½ cups Icing Sugar
- ½ cup Cocoa Powder
- 3 tbsp Milk
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Cake Method
- Line two 20cm round cake tins with baking paper.
- Preheat your fan-forced oven to 160°C
- Make one cup of espresso, sift the cocoa into a small bowl. Slowly pour the coffee into the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Refer to Note 1 for Espresso alternatives.
- Sift flour, baking powder and bi-carb soda into a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and mix at a low speed to combine.
- Add the buttermilk, oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract, then whisk on low speed until well combined.
- Add eggs and cocoa mixture, mix on low speed until just combined. Scrap the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula and then whisk on medium-high until all combined.
- Add cake mixture into the two cake tins as evenly as possible and place in the oven. Both on the middle rack not touching. Refer to Note 2 for tin positions for a small oven. Place a baking tray at the bottom of your oven to catch any drips.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until the skewers come out clean.
- Cool on a cooling rack in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the cake tins, and place the cakes top side down. Allow cakes to cool completely.
Chocolate Buttercream Icing Method
- Cream the soft butter with a hand mixer or stand mixer until the butter is pale in colour.
- Add sifted icing sugar a little at a time and mix on low speed to incorporate after each addition.
- Add sifted cocoa powder and mix on low until combined.
- Add milk and vanilla extract, mix until well combined. Add a little more milk if your want a softer buttercream mixture.
Preparing and icing the cakes
- Level the tops of your cakes if needed. Pipe the buttercream icing on the top of one cake and smooth out. Then place the second cake on top of the buttercream upside down.
- Spread a thin layer of buttercream around the sides and the top of the cake, then place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to set.
- Pipe a second layer of buttercream on the top and spread the rest around the sides. Using a spatula or cake scraper, smooth the buttercream all over.
- Decorate as desired.
Notes
Note 1: if you are unable to use a cup of premade espresso, add 1 teaspoon of instant coffee into 1 cup of boiling water. Or use 1 cup of percolated coffee.
Note 2: for smaller ovens place one tin on the middle shelf and one on the bottom shelf, but off centred to each other. If the bottom cake is not ready when the top one is, place the bottom cake on the middle shelf for about 5 or 10 minutes.
