Mocha Cake - The Not So Creative Cook

A coffee-infused cake with velvety mocha buttercream. 

Turning a year older is not as bad as it seems. As I grow older, I think I am becoming more mature and I have learned a lot. I will not enumerate all of them as I don’t want this post to be a dramatic one. Haha!

Anyway, there’s nothing so special about today except for… it’s my birthday. This day will be different from my previous birthdays as I will not have something on the table except for my first favorite cake. If you are a regular reader, you’ll remember about the Mocha Cake I always talk about. Finally, I had a chance to bake it.

Mocha Cake

• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 6 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp Nescafe coffee granules
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp water
• ½ cup vegetable oil (or any flavorless oil)
• 1 cup cake flour or cake flour substitute
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6 egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 tsp cream of tartar

For the mocha buttercream:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 12 oz unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp Nescafe coffee granules
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 5 tsps water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

For the cake: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line two 9×2-inch round baking pans with parchment paper on the bottom and spray with non-stick spray (both bottom and sides). Set aside.
2. In a bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow in color.
3. In a small bowl or cup, combine coffee granules and cocoa powder. Add in water and vanilla. Mix until no lumps. Pour this mixture to the egg-sugar mixture.
4. Add in vegetable oil and mix to combine.
5. Sift cake flour and baking powder over the mixture. Mix until well combined, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl.
6. In another bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks.
7. Add about just a cup of meringue (egg white mixture) to the bowl with egg yolks just to thin the mixture. Then add the rest of the egg whites by doing the cut and fold process.
8. Evenly divide the batter between the two round baking pans.
9. Bake on two racks for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. (Rotate and exchange the pans halfway through baking.
10. Remove from the oven and let it stay in the baking pan for about 10 minutes. Then carefully transfer the cake on a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

While waiting for the cake to cool completely, let us make the mocha buttercream.

1. In a heatproof bowl, add egg whites and sugar. Place over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl). Whisk the egg whites and sugar for about 3-5 minutes or until the meringue is hot to touch and the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue beating (using an electric hand mixer) for 5 minutes in medium speed.
3. Add half of the softened butter and beat until smooth. Then add the other half to combine, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Continue beating for another 6-10 minutes in a medium-high speed until thick.
4. In a small bowl or cup, combine coffee granules and cocoa powder. Add in water and vanilla. Mix until no lumps. Pour this mixture to the buttercream and mix until well combined.

To assemble the cake,

1. Cut parchment paper larger than the size of your cake stand of serving plate, cut into 4. Place these above your cake stand. This will keep your cake stand/serving plate clean while frosting.
2. Place the first layer of your cake on the parchment-lined cake stand. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the buttercream over the cake and spread evenly using an offset spatula.
3. Place the second layer of the cake over and spread with a thin layer of the buttercream all over the cake. Let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Spread a thicker layer of buttercream all over your cake.
5. Decorate the cake as you wish.

Source recipe: Mocha Cake ala Goldilocks by Gourmeted

Notes: 

I doubled the mocha buttercream recipe just to make it enough for the roses for the frosting. If you’d like to double it, please be patient in beating if using a hand mixer as it will take time to form. Mine took about 20-30 minutes.

I used 2D Wilton piping tip for the frosting. Check out this video on how to make the beautiful roses on my cake.

Whew! That was long! That’s the reason why I don’t bake this frequently – just looking at the instructions makes me tired. Haha! But everything was worth it. The cake was soft, fluffy and incredibly delicious!! This is the second time I bake this cake. The first time was last year – on my birthday, too.

‘Goldilocks’ is a known bakeshop in the Philippines and I LOVE their Mocha Cake so much (like I could just finish the whole cake all by myself). My Mom never failed to buy me the cake during my birthdays. Its been ages since I was looking for a Mocha Cake recipe and my friend, Google, gave me something like a Coffee Cake but I was not sure if it was something I was looking for. Patiently, I searched and searched. Nothing. Until a friend of mine, Joice, gave me this site. Gosh! I was drooling the exact moment I opened the site. Hahaha!

I want to put more words to this post but I guess the photos will do the talking for me. I guess the beauty and the deliciousness of this cake almost left me speechless.

I really hope you could try this cake. 🙂 I promise that you will love it… and please let me know!

Thank you so much for spending this day with me! Have a nice weekend! 😉

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