Mocha Cake

This Mocha Cake is made with two layers of moist and rich chocolate cake, covered in an extremely smooth and silky espresso Swiss meringue buttercream. An ultimate cake for chocolate and coffee lovers! 

If I can only pick two things I can’t live without, they would have to be my morning coffee and my afternoon chocolate. And if I can’t have those, I will gladly take a slice of this Mocha Chocolate Cake any time of the day.

This is the perfect cake for birthday celebrations, Valentine’s day dinners, and just about any special occasions you have coming up. Or just take a big ol’ slice for your afternoon snack because that espresso frosting will sure wake you up!

How to make Mocha Cake

When you say mocha, I immediately think of coffee and chocolate. This mocha cake is made of 3 components that bring out the mocha flavor.

• The chocolate cake – the chocolate part of “mocha”
• The espresso buttercream – the coffee part of “mocha”
• The mocha buttercream – I used some of the espresso buttercream and added melted chocolate to it to create a different tone for the piped decoration on the cake and to bring the “mocha” flavor all together.

The ingredients you’ll need

Here are all the ingredients you’ll need to create this masterpiece of a cake:

There are two type of coffee used in this cake:

• Strong brewed coffee for the cake batter – this will not be enough to create the mocha flavor, but coffee in chocolate cake will enhance the chocolate flavor of the cake.
• Instant espresso powder for the frosting – I use Medaglia D’Oro instant espresso, I got it at Sprouts. Note that this is instant espresso not regular instant coffee, you could substitute instant coffee but the flavor may not be as strong. DO NOT substitute regular ground coffee here. We want to use instant because the granules will dissolve in the frosting, otherwise you will have gritty frosting from the coffee ground. 

Which type of cocoa powder to use in this cake? 

Flavor-wise it doesn’t matter that much because you have the brewed coffee enhancing the chocolate flavor, so use whichever type you have in your pantry. However, the color of the cake will be different.

• Dutch-processed cocoa will result in a darker color cake.
• Natural cocoa will result in a lighter color with a slight red tint.

Making the mocha chocolate cake

I make this cake batter with just a hand whisk. You can use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer but just be sure not to over mix in step 4.

1. Add coffee, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract to a large bowl. 
2. Beat with a whisk until combined.
3. Mix together the dry ingredients and add the mixture to the liquid mixture. 
4. Whisk just until a smooth batter forms.
5. Divide the batter evenly among two 8” cake pans.
6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached.

Making the espresso buttercream

This espresso buttercream is a Swiss Meringue buttercream. Refer to this post for more details on how to make Swiss meringue buttercream and a video!

7. Make a plain Swiss meringue buttercream.
8. Add instant espresso powder, vanilla and salt.
9. Beat until light and fluffy.

Optional mocha buttercream

I took 1 ½ cup of espresso buttercream and added melted chocolate to it to create an actual mocha buttercream for the piped decoration.

• Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water and let it cool while you prepare the large batch of buttercream.
• Once the espresso buttercream is ready, transfer everything to another bowl leaving 1 ½ cup in the stand mixer.
• Add the cooled melted chocolate and beat until smooth.

This gives two slightly different tones to the spikes on the outside of the cake. If you want the color difference to be even more pronounced, you could also add 1 – 2 teaspoon of cocoa powder.

Last step: assemble your mocha cake

I am not a great cake decorator and I cannot create smooth sides to save my life. So, my solution to that is adding simple decorations on the outside of the cake that hide the sides and make it look impressive at the same time!

The cake layers are thick so I wanted a thicker layer of buttercream in the middle, and used 1 ½ cups.  For the top and sides, I used 1 cup in total since we just need a thin layer to cover the cake before adding the spikes. Use an offset spatula to spread the frosting evenly.

This leaves me with 1 ½ cup of mocha buttercream and about 2 cups of espresso buttercream for the outer decorations. I used a Magic Line Brand French Tip 8FT or equivalent Ateco #868 and a disposable pastry bag. You could use a thick ziploc bag as well.

I pipe the espresso buttercream out first because it is lighter in color. Make random spikes all over the cake and sides leaving random open spots for the mocha buttercream. Once you run out of the espresso buttercream, add the mocha buttercream in the same pastry bag and continue piping.

Baker’s Tips

• Use a kitchen scale to divide the cake batter if you want to be more precise, about 700 g of batter per pan for a 2-layer cake. This will also help the cake bake evenly.
• If you want to make a 3-layer cake, you can increase the recipe by 1.5x or divide the batter into 3 cake pans for thinner layers. Thinner layers will bake quicker so make sure to reduce baking time if you do this.
• For the frosting, I start with 2 tablespoon of espresso powder and increase it until the coffee flavor is strong enough for my taste. You can adjust it to be lighter or stronger to your taste. But I highly recommend staying with the recipe as is.
• You don’t have to create the same spike decorations for this mocha cake, you could do swirls using an open star tip like in this Hummingbird Cake, create ridges with your offset spatula like in this Carrot Cake or attempt a smooth side like in this Chocolate Cake.
• At any time during the decorating process, the frosting starts to feel soft or get runny, pop everything in the refrigerator for 15 – 30 minutes to let it firm up.

Storage

You should store your frosted mocha cake in the refrigerator. But take it out about half an hour before serving to let the buttercream soften up a bit.

Any leftovers should also be kept refrigerated for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. To freeze this cake, I would first refrigerate it to let the frosting harden completely, then cut it into individual slices, wrap each slice in plastic and store in a freezer bag.

You can thaw frozen cake at room temperature about 2 hours before serving.

Making ahead

Each component of this mocha cake also freezes very well. So if you want to make it ahead of time, I suggest making the cake layers and the frosting, and freeze them separately. You can thaw and assemble the cake the day you are planning to serve it.

For the frosting, let it thaw at room temperature and re-whip it until light and fluffy before using.

Helpful tools to make this mocha cake

• Stand Mixer – to make the buttercream, you don’t need it for the cake batter.
• 8” Cake Pan – these are my favorite cake pans.
• Kitchen Scale – for more precise measurement, it’s a cheap investment for baking!
• Offset Spatula – I have a large one for full size cakes and a smaller one for mini cakes.
• Pastry Bags – I have a box of 100 that will last me a long time. But you could use a ziploc bag instead if you don’t use pastry bags all the time.
• French Star Tip Ateco 868 – I use this for the spike decorations.

More amazing layer cake recipes

• Vanilla Cake
• Apple Pie Cake
• Red Velvet Cake
• Lemon Blueberry Cake
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

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📖 Recipe card

Mocha Cake

This Mocha Cake is made with two layers of moist and rich chocolate cake, covered in an extremely smooth and silky espresso Swiss meringue buttercream. An ultimate cake for chocolate and coffee lovers!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Cake, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 slices

Calories: 598kcal

Author: Trang

Equipment

• Stand Mixer
• 8" Cake Pan
• Kitchen Scale
• Offset Spatula
• Pastry Bags
• French Star Tip Ateco 868

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

• ▢ 2 cup all-purpose flour (270 g)
• ▢ ¾ cup cocoa powder (dutch-processed or natural, 60 g)
• ▢ 2 cup granulated sugar (400 g)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 cup strong coffee (room temperature, 236 g)
• ▢ 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature, 238 g)
• ▢ 2 large eggs (room temperature)
• ▢ ½ cup oil (102 g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Espresso Swiss Buttercream (yields 6 cup)

• ▢ 7 large egg whites (7 ¾ oz, 219 g)
• ▢ 1 ½ cup granulated sugar (281 g)
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• ▢ 20 oz unsalted butter (5 sticks, 567 g)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 4 tablespoon instant espresso powder (20 g)
• ▢ A big pinch of kosher salt
• ▢ ⅓ cup dark chocolate melting wafer (2 oz, 58 g, optional)

Instructions

Make the chocolate cake

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Brush two 8” cake pans with melted butter. Line the bottom of each cake pan with a piece of round parchment paper and brush the parchment paper with butter as well. Set aside.
• Add coffee, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract to a large bowl. Beat with a whisk until combined.
• Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt to the flour mixture, and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture, and whisk until a smooth batter forms.
• Divide batter evenly among the two prepared cake pans and bake for 30 – 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean with just a few crumbs attached.
• Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 20 – 30 minutes. When you can comfortably touch the cake pans, use a butter knife to loosen the sides, flip the pan over to remove the cake from the pan. Peel off the parchment paper, and allow the cakes to cool completely on a wire rack before adding frosting.

Make the buttercream

• Add egg whites and sugar to a heatproof glass bowl and place it over a pot of boiling water without allowing the bottom of the bowl to touch the water, reduce heat to keep the water simmering and not boiling over.
• Whisk the mixture constantly until all the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 160°F.
• Carefully remove the bowl from the pot and wipe the bottom and side dry. Transfer the egg white mixture into your stand mixer bowl and beat with the balloon attachment on medium speed. Stream in the lemon juice, and continue beating until stiff peak forms and the meringue is shiny and smooth.
• Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the room temperature cubed butter, one cube at a time, allowing it to incorporate into the meringue before adding another.
• Once all the butter has been incorporated, add espresso powder, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
• Optional: If you want to flavor part of the frosting with chocolate, melt ⅓ cup of dark chocolate melting wafer in a glass bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Do this before you start making the frosting and set aside to cool.
• Make the mocha buttercream: Once the espresso buttercream is ready, transfer everything to another mixing bowl leaving just 1 ½ cup of frosting and mix in the cooled melted chocolate, beat until fluffy.

Assemble the cake

• Line a cake stand or plate with a few strips of parchment paper around the edges and place 1 layer of cake on top.
• Add between 1 to 1 ½ cup of espresso buttercream on top of the first layer and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Place the second layer of cake on top. Add ½ cup of espresso buttercream on top of the second layer and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Use another ½ cup of espresso buttercream to cover the side of the cake.
• Refrigerate the cake and the remaining espresso buttercream and mocha buttercream (if using) for 15 – 30 minutes to firm up before piping decorations on the cake.
• When ready to finish decorating the cake, carefully pull out the parchment paper lining the plate or cake stand from the bottom of the cake.
• Add the remaining espresso buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a French star tip #8FT and pipe decorations to cover the top and side of the cake. This will not be enough to cover the cake completely if you made the mocha buttercream, so leave random spots free of decoration.
• Add the mocha buttercream to the same pastry bag once the espresso buttercream is running out, and continue to pipe decorations to cover the cake completely.
• Refrigerate the cake for 2 hours before serving.

Notes

• Use a kitchen scale to divide the cake batter if you want to be more precise, about 700 g of batter per pan. This will also help the cake bake evenly.
• If you want to make a 3-layer cake, you can increase the recipe by 1.5x or divide the batter into 3 cake pans for thinner layers. Thinner layers will bake quicker so make sure to reduce baking time if you do this.
• For the frosting, I start with 2 tablespoon of espresso powder and increase it until the coffee flavor is strong enough for my taste. You can adjust it to be lighter or stronger to your taste.
• At any time during the decorating process, the frosting starts to feel soft or get runny, pop everything in the refrigerator for 15 – 30 minutes to let it firm up.

Nutrition

Serving: 163g | Calories: 598kcal

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