Mocha cake with buttercream frosting

Before Amanda and Mark chose a mocha cake with buttercream frosting for their wedding cake, they came over to have a taste test!

Poor kids had no idea what they were in for - I think they shared 12 cupcakes between them.

They tried combinations of the following:

Mocha Cake

Chocolate Orange Almond Cake

Chocolate Mud Cake

Neapolitan Cake

Buttercream Frosting

Marshmallow Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting

It was a LOT of cake!

But after all of those choices, they narrowed it down to the mocha and buttercream.

The cake was two tiered, which required four times the recipe below and five times the frosting. Be advised, this is not vegan, although you could probably make it vegan with a few simple substitutions like EnerG Egg Replacer for eggs and Earth Balance in place of butter.

For the cake you will need:

1 stick plus 3 TBSP butter, chopped coarsely (or Earth Balance)

3 1/2 oz dark chocolate

1 1/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

1/4 cup coffee syrup

3 TBSP instant coffee granules

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 TBSP self-rising flour

3 TBSP cocoa powder

1 egg (or Egg Replacer equivalent)

Preheat your oven to 325. Butter your baking dish and dust with cocoa. DO NOT use that horrible spray junk - it's all chemicals and it doesn't work as well. See here for proof.

Combine the butter, chocolate, sugar, water, coffee syrup, and coffee granules in a sauce pan. Stir over medium-low heat until it is all combined and there are no lumps.

Remove the coffee-chocolate mixture from the heat and pour it into a bowl. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before starting the next step.

After at least 15 minutes, sift in the flours and cocoa. Then add the egg (or Egg Replacer) and stir until combined. Be careful not to over mix! There isn't much flour in this, so the cakes don't rise very much. If you over-mix the batter you'll activate the gluten. That makes it rubbery, which is exactly what this cake does not need!

Pour into your prepped baking dished and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. You'll need to test these with a tooth pick at about 40 minutes to see how much longer you need.

Once cooked, remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Yeah, I know your mom always told you to let them sit for 10 BUT if you let them sit they're impossible to get out of the pan - they're basically giant mocha brownies.

For the frosting you will need:

6 TBSP butter 

(yes, you can substitute Earth Balance, but you'll want to add more powdered sugar)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

(or substitute it for another extract if you want to flavor it differently)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 TBSP milk (or non-dairy milk)

Whip the butter until it's light and fluffy, then add the vanilla. Mix in the milk and sugar, alternating so that you don't cover your kitchen in powdered sugar.

I like to add a little extra powdered sugar, because it helps the buttercream stay more solid. This helps if you're planning to let your cake sit out a while. This way it doesn't melt and run down the sides of your cake. If you plan to eat it right away or refrigerate it, skip the extra sugar.

I think in my next post I'll show you some tricks for frosting a cake. WAY MORE cake recipes to follow!