Dark Chocolate Cake with Chile-Chocolate Buttercream
Yield: 12 to 16 servings
The cake is deeply chocolatey and super moist, and topped with a luscious chocolate buttercream frosting that has a touch of heat.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring the pans
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Morton kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Buttercream
- 2½ cups (5 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 pound powdered sugar, sifted
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for dusting the finished cake
- 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
- 5 ounces white chocolate baking bar (not chips), melted and cooled
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter two 9'' round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.
- Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
- In a small bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- With mixer on low speed, slowly add wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, slowly and carefully add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Buttercream
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy.
- At low speed, beat in powdered sugar. Increase speed to high and beat until fluffy, scraping down the side of the bowl, about 2 minutes longer.
- At low speed, beat in cream, vanilla, cinnamon, ancho chile powder and cayenne, then gradually beat in the cooled bittersweet and white chocolate.
- Scrape down the side of the bowl and the paddle, increase speed to medium-high and beat until light, 3 minutes longer. Then use a wooden spoon to vigorously beat the buttercream for 30 seconds, to deflate any air bubbles.
Assembly
- Place one cake layer, flat side up, on a plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with almost 2 cups of the frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the remaining frosting onto the top and sides of the cake. (There is plenty of frosting and I've never used all of it.)
- Dust the top of the cake very lightly with additional cinnamon. So pretty!
- Refrigerate the finished cake for at least 30 minutes before slicing. If the cake has been fully refrigerated (several hours or overnight) prior to serving, be sure to bring it to room temperature before serving (to soften the buttercream a bit), which can take 30 minutes or more.
- This cake can easily be made the day prior to serving it and any leftover cake keeps well when covered and refrigerated.
Notes
Dark Chocolate Cake slightly adapted from “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake” from Barefoot Contessa at Home. Chile Chocolate Frosting from Food & Wine magazine March 2008.
Nutrition Information:
Serving: 1 Calories: 500kcal Carbohydrates: 77g Protein: 6g Fat: 19g Saturated Fat: 8g Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g Cholesterol: 38mg Sodium: 409mg Fiber: 3g Sugar: 61g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Spoonacular. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.