Description
This fudgy mocha cake with cream cheese frosting is possibly the best mocha cake I’ve made – it’s moist, fudgy, and so easy to make!
Ingredients
Scale
Mocha Cake
- 110g all-purpose flour
- 200g cane sugar or coconut sugar
- 30g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 132g milk or non-dairy milk (I used my house blend milk)
- 50g avocado oil
- 1 large egg (~50g)
- 1/2 tsp ground vanilla or vanilla paste
- 115g freshly brewed coffee (or double shot espresso w/ hot water)
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Buttercream (w/ honey)
- 4 oz or 115g salted butter or vegan butter, softened
- 8 oz or 227g cream cheese or vegan cream cheese
- 68g (3 tbsp) honey
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or ground vanilla
Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Buttercream (w/ powdered sugar)
- 4 oz or 115g salted butter or vegan salted butter, softened
- 8 oz or 227g cream cheese or vegan cream cheese
- 125g (1 cup) sifted powdered sugar
- 3–4 tbsp heavy cream or non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or ground vanilla
Instructions
Mocha Cake
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F, grease an 8” cake pan with butter or avocado oil, and line with a parchment paper round.
- Sift the flour mixture. Add the flour and sugar to a medium bowl, and sift in the cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt. Whisk together to combine and set aside.
- Whisk together the liquid ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, avocado oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- Brew your coffee or pull an espresso shot. If you have a drip coffee machine, use that to brew the hot coffee. Alternatively, you can pull an espresso shot (I pulled a double shot which was around 50g) and mix the shot with enough hot water to reach 115g total.
- Whisk the batter together. Alternate whisking in the flour mixture and coffee/espresso into the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the flour. Whisk well until there aren’t any flour steaks and the batter is fully combined – it’ll look runny, this is totally normal!
- Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn it out onto the plate you’re going to serve the cake on – make sure to wrap the cake in plastic wrap – and chill in the fridge overnight. NOTE: I basically stand next to the oven for the last 5 minutes of the bake time because cakes tend to bake so fast in the last few minutes. And no one likes an overbaked cake. If your oven runs hot, start checking the cake around the 30 minute mark.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Remove the cake from the fridge to let it come to room temp while you make the frosting.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cream cheese and butter. Using the paddle attachment, whip together until fully incorporated, about 4-5 minutes. This incorporates air into the butter and cream cheese, essentially creating a whipped butter-cream cheese.
- Add in the honey (or powdered sugar and cream), and vanilla bean. Whisk together until light and fluffy – about 3-4 minutes. Taste and adjust sweetener if needed. In total, you’ll whip the buttercream for about 8-10 minutes to create a fluffy, aerated buttercream! NOTE: If your frosting is loose, let it firm up in the fridge for 20-30 minutes before frosting the cake.
Assemble
- Plop the frosting in the center of the cake, and using an offset spatula, smooth the frosting out so it’s in an even layer. Then, leaving about a 1” border, smooth the center so it’s completely flat. Dust cocoa powder over the smooth center of the cake.
- Serve immediately or chill the cake in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.