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Perfect the cake drip with this recipe for a stunning Mocha Layer Cake perfect for coffee lovers. Get the recipe at Supper in the Suburbs
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Mocha Cake

This easy and tasty mocha cake is full of rich coffee, moist chocolate and heady vanilla. It's perfect on it's own or with extra cream!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Decorating time1 hour
Total Time2 hours
Servings: 12 people
Calories: 555.13kcal

Ingredients

For the sponge cake

  • 150 g butter
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 50 ml espresso
  • 150 g self raising flour

For the chocolate ganache

  • 300 ml Double Cream
  • 300 ml Dark Chocolate

For the coffee frosting

  • 350 g Icing Sugar
  • 1 Egg White
  • 75 g Butter
  • 15 ml Coffee made with hot water or milk...your choice

Instructions

For the sponge cake

  • Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 (160 C), and get out two 18cm sandwich tins and grease them thoroughly (or alternatively line with grease proof paper. 
  • Next cream together the butter and the sugar.Make sure you do this thoroughly and wait for the mixture to turn a much paler, creamier yellow.  It will then be really soft to the touch.
  • Beat the eggs up and slowly add them to the butter and sugar mix, only a little bit at a time. Whisking the mixture together thoroughly in between each addition. If you add too much too quickly the mixture may curdle but don’t panic! Keep whisking, if that doesn’t help a pinch of flour should do the trick!
  • Next sift the flour and the salt into your bowl! All at once! And gently combine the mixture folding lots of big air bubbles in. Make sure there are no hidden clumps of flour and that the mix is thoroughly combined.
  • Divide between the two, and gently push the mixture to the edges to get a nice flat surface, perfect for decorating!
  • Cook in the centre of the oven for 30mins.
  • Once they are a nice golden brown colour you know they are done! But just to be safe poke with a knife or metal skewer – if it comes away dry you know they are ready!
  • For the Chocolate Ganache
  • The ganache is surprisingly easy. With a good quality double cream, and a good quality chocolate this can be whipped up (quite literally) in minutes!
  • First heat the double cream in a pan until it just comes to the boil.
  • Once it begins to bubble, take off the heat and pour over the chocolate (which you will need to break down into cubes). Keep stirring until the chocolate is melted and the mixture becomes glossy.
  • This then needs to be whipped up - ideally with an electric whisk - until it becomes thick but spreadable!
  • It will be REALLY hard at this stage not to grab a spoon and eat it all but trust me, the cake will be worth it at the end!
  • At this stage it is best to pop the ganache into the fridge. This will keep it thick and glossy while you prepare the coffee frosting. Then you can build the cake at the end!
  • For the Coffee Frosting
  • This frosting is REALLY easy! Whisk up the egg whites and the butter. When it starts getting thicker add in the coffee then finally whisk in the icing sugar.
  • You may find that you need more icing sugar on this. This will depend on how thick the mixture got when you whisked up the other ingredients.
  • To build the cake, remove the ganache from the fridge and spread it straight onto the first layer of the cake.
  • Spread this right up to the edges and place the other layer of the sandwich cake on top.
  • You need to make sure that the ganache goes right up to the edge and there are no lumps and bumps or gaps between both layers of the cake. I found the best way to do this was to pipe extra ganache onto the edge of the cake and smooth down with a palette knife so the cake was smooth all of the way round.
  • Next cover the cake all over in the frosting.
  • Once the cake is completely covered, pop the whole cake back in the fridge. By keeping the cake really cool it stops it spoiling (after all there is a lot of fresh cream, egg, and butter in the cake) and it will also help with the final layer of decoration.
  • When the cake has become extremely cool, begin melting roughly 300g of dark chocolate in a bowl over some hot water. Remove from the heat once the chocolate is completely smooth, and allow it to cool.
  • Make sure you keep stirring so you can feel when it is about to start setting again. When the chocolate is cool but still runny, pour over the top of the cake.
  • I decided to allow it to drip down the sides so I had a smooth chocolate top but you could still see the coffee frosting beneath!

Nutrition

Calories: 555.13kcal | Carbohydrates: 63.17g | Protein: 4.46g | Fat: 32.33g | Saturated Fat: 13.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5.28g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11.96g | Trans Fat: 2.8g | Cholesterol: 28.97mg | Sodium: 139.66mg | Potassium: 324.76mg | Fiber: 2.32g | Sugar: 46.25g | Vitamin A: 377.15IU | Vitamin C: 0.15mg | Calcium: 38.9mg | Iron: 2.56mg