- Hey guys, today we're making
a delicious mocha cake.
There's espresso, there's chocolate,
there's butter, there's sugar.
This is gonna be a dream come true
for every coffee lover out there.
Let's get started.
First off, we're going to have three cups
of all purpose flour
into the bowl of our standing mixer.
Then add two and two-thirds cups of sugar,
one teaspoon of kosher salt,
one tablespoon of baking soda,
one and a half teaspoons of baking powder.
And now for a good whisk.
You really want to make sure all those ingredients
are evenly distributed.
Whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk.
After you give them a quick whisk,
let's sift in three tablespoons
of really nice cocoa powder.
Sifting just prevents any lumps
because the cocoa powder does have
a lot of fat in it and it can lump up.
Now for our final whisk.
That smells great already.
Set the bowl aside, and now we're gonna mix
our wet ingredients together.
Into a large bowl, I'm going to add
in three quarters of a cup of vegetable oil,
one cup of buttermilk
and I never have buttermilk on hand
'cause it expires really quickly.
That's why I always keep powdered buttermilk on hand.
You just mix it with regular milk or water
and you're good to go for all your recipes.
I'm adding in one half cup of sour cream.
I love sour cream in basically all of my recipes
'cause it really gives you a lot of creaminess.
If you don't like sour cream though,
you can use yogurt instead.
One tablespoon of vanilla.
Three large eggs,
into the mixing bowl.
I'm going to give this a quick whisk
before I add my final
and very important ingredient in.
I love adding coffee to anything with chocolate
because it really brings out the chocolate flavor.
You're not gonna taste so much coffee,
it's all about heightening that chocolatey flavor.
So one and a half cups of hot, strong coffee.
That's one and a half.
It's really nice to use room temperature
or even warm ingredients
whenever you're baking something.
You don't want to put something ice cold
into your oven.
It'll just take longer to bake
and the center will bake much more slowly
than the edges, which is always a bad sign.
Before you mix the wet and dry ingredients,
I have to prep my cake pans
by buttering and flouring them.
I'll also be using cake strips
to ensure a nice even bake for flat layers.
We're going to mix our wet and dry ingredients
and the only note for you is just to make sure
to scrape the bowl down halfway through.
Let's get started.
I'm going to use the digital scale to weigh each layer
and make sure I'm pouring in just enough batter.
It really helps you get nice even layers,
nothing too thick or thin.
They're all gonna be uniform.
Before I pop these into the oven at 350,
I'm going to add my cake strips.
These are just wet fabric strips
that go on the edge of the pan
and they basically cool the pan down
so the cake bakes evenly.
That gives you a nice flat layer
and fluffy edges which are not burnt.
So important.
If you don't want to use coffee in your recipe,
you can go ahead and substitute
just water or milk or almond milk,
any liquid basically is fine.
Into the oven.
My cake layers are out of the oven
and they're coming to room temperature
and they also smell really, really good.
Oh my gosh.
Okay, so setting these aside,
not going to nibble.
And in the meantime,
we're going to start whipping our butter
for the buttercream.
Use the paddle attachment and go slow.
Lowest setting for, like, five minutes
until the butter is light and fluffy.
I'm sifting in a pound and a half
of confectioner's sugar into a large bowl.
So, this kitchen scale really comes in handy.
Now it's time to combine our ingredients, on low.
I'm adding in a teaspoon of vanilla.
This looks great already
but now I'm going to add in a tablespoon of cocoa powder
and then, that espresso powder comes next.
Sprinkle, sprinkle.
A teaspoon of espresso powder.
I might add a second one in.
Taste testing is mandatory.
I like it,
it definitely needs more espresso powder though.
I'm adding in two more teaspoons.
And mix.
All right, I'm going to go crazy
so one more teaspoon of espresso powder
and a half teaspoon of kosher salt.
This will really make it nice
and, like, salty, sweet chocolate, coffee, amazing.
All right, final test, let's see.
Nice, nice, nice.
One cup of chopped semi-sweet chocolate
into a medium bowl.
And we're just going to pour some hot heavy cream
on top of that.
Cover the bowl for, like, two minutes
and then we're gonna whisk it up.
Okay, now it's time for the fun part.
I'm going to assemble the cake.
I'm starting off by piping on my buttercream.
Drizzle on your ganache.
Chopped chocolate covered espresso beans
for a bit of crunch.
Put the second layer on,
repeat the process.
And now, cover it completely
in that delicious buttercream.
I'm using an offset spatula to smooth the top
and a bench scraper for the sides.
When you're ready, you're gonna use the bench scraper
to pull in the top while you turn
to get a nice edge.
Drizzle your ganache on top.
Use an offset spatula to smooth the top
because the drip situation can be kind of tricky,
I'm not gonna lie.
Sometimes the ganache is too cold
and it doesn't drip enough.
Sometimes it's too hot
and it runs all the way to the bottom.
So you have to get it just right.
Piping some beautiful dollops
with a large closed star tip.
I'm crowning my dollops
with these chocolate covered espresso beans,
which I love.
Very easy and simple, beautiful decoration.
Oh my gosh, this is so delicious.
I hope you get to try the recipe.
Thanks for watching
and don't forget to subscribe.