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Coffee Chocolate Cake (small batch, one-bowl)

 If you are looking for a moist and rich cake that fulfills all of your chocolate and coffee dreams, this one is for you. For the base of this cake, I am baking a super easy one-bowl chocolate dough with sour cream and real espresso for that rich and moist coffee taste. Then, I top the cake with a chocolate coffee frosting, it is super simple too. We are using instant coffee and cocoa powder to enhance our flavors even more. If you want, you could add some berries on top - I think that would make the cake even more special!

The chocolate coffee dough

For the chocolate coffee base, I used a recipe from freshbeanbakery as guidance. I'll link her original recipe here. I just swapped out the hot milk for hot strong coffee in order to achieve the coffee flavor. The rest of the recipe is pretty simple, too. We start by whisking together the cocoa powder, instant coffee, and hot espresso. This is called "blooming" your cocoa powder and enhances the chocolate flavor. Then we add in the wet ingredients and lastly the dry ones. A super quick batter!

The chocolate coffee frosting

For the frosting, I start with soft butter to stabilize it and achieve a creamy texture. The main ingredient of the frosting is quark. If you are unfamiliar with quark, it is a real German thing that is similar to cottage cheese. In case you do not have any quark on hand, I think the best substitution is cottage cheese because yogurt would be too liquid. To create the chocolate coffee flavor, I am using raw cocoa powder and instant coffee, which I dissolve in heavy cream. The heavy cream adds a really nice creaminess to the frosting and makes it really smooth. Lastly, I am also using powdered sugar, because without it, the frosting tastes quite bitter. But, because all of these ingredients are simply whisked together, it is a simple yet delicious-tasting frosting for our cake!

Which size is the cake?

I made a relatively small cake:  it is made in an 18cm / 7'' pan. You could also choose an even smaller baking tin (that just means your cake will bake even longer) but I would not recommend using a larger pan. Because if doing so, the cake is going to be very flat.



RECIPE:


Ingredients:

For the chocolate coffee cake:

  • 30g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp instant coffee powder
  • 65g hot, freshly brewed espresso
  • 75g vegetable oil
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 90g sour cream
  • 80g all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt

For the chocolate coffee frosting:

  • 50g soft butter
  • 145g quark
  • 40g heavy cream
  • 1 tsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
  • 1 tsp instant coffee
  • 20g powdered sugar/ icing sugar
Instructions:

  1. Start by preheating your oven to 180°C/356°F and line a 7''/18cm baking pan with parchment paper or grease it with butter.
  2. In a bowl, add the instant coffee and cocoa powder. Then pour the hot coffee over the mixture and whisk until combined. The paste will be relatively thick, but that is no problem because we are adding more liquid later on.
  3. Now, add in the oil, sugar, sour cream, and egg. Whisk until combined and no lumps remain.
  4. Lastly, add in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir until just combined - we do not want to overmix the batter.
  5. Transfer the batter to the baking pan and bake in the preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes. 
  6. While the cake is baking, we can prepare the frosting.
  7. Start by beating the soft butter with a hand mixer until creamy. Then, add in the quark and whisk until combined.
  8. Next, dissolve the instant coffee in the heavy cream as good as possible. It is okay if not everything dissolves completely, just make sure to remove the access instant coffee.
  9. Add the infused heavy cream, the powdered sugar, and the cocoa to the quark mixture and whisk until a smooth and creamy frosting is created.
  10. Chill your chocolate cake until cooled completely and top it with the frosting.
  11. If you want, you can decorate the cake with some berries.
  12. Enjoy!

If you tried this recipe, make sure to tag me on your Instagram picture (@tamarasbakings)

For more sweet recipes, visit my recipe index or take a look at my Instagram account. I would love to welcome you as my new follower!



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