I cut a slice of this cake with the intention of photographing it, tasting it so I could review it, then giving the rest of it to Hubs for dessert, but it didn't work out that way. Hubs had roast chicken for supper and I had...cake. After one taste I just couldn't put the fork down and ended up cleaning the plate to the last "stick to your fork" crumb. After that I just had no desire for my chicken dinner! This cake is everything you'd want a good old-fashioned chocolate cake to be - fluffy, moist and chocolatey. It's just right in every way, just what you'd expect Grandma to put before you with a tall glass of milk. Easy to mix up and satisfyingly delicious, it just doesn't get any better than this. Very much like the "Black Magic Cake" from this site. Instead of the hot water and instant coffee powder I used a cup of strong brewed coffee. (A cup for me and a cup for the cake!). Other than that, I strictly followed the recipe. My 9" layers were done in 28 minutes so watch the time closely! My only criticism of this recipe is that I didn't find simply greasing the pans adequate - I had a little trouble getting the cakes to release from the pans so I'd suggest flouring them as well. I frosted the cake with "Coffee Butter Frosting" which proved to be a perfect choice.
I have tried dozens of scratch cake recipes and this is simply the best I've tried. The cake is easy to prepare, the texture is moist and dense, it rises beautifully and has the perfect balance of sweetness. A truly supreme cake.
I added an extra 2 Tbsp of instant coffee (for a total of 3 Tbsp) since others had commented on the lack of coffee flavor and the flavor of the cake turned out great! The cake was a little chewy and dense for me but others who ate it said that they loved it. I used stabilized whipped cream icing (the kind made with gelatin) and added a Tbsp of instant coffee granlues to the water/gelatin mixture.
Really a great recipe. Very moist. I had no buttermilk or lemon juice or vinegar to sour the milk so I used 1/2 cup of plain yogurt and 1/2 whole milk. Worked great. I also did not have instant coffee (YUK!) So I made an extra strong cup in the press and used that. Came out just fine. Like others said a very runny batter but do not let that scare you. Bakes up very nice.
I have been making this cake for almost 4 years now! It always come out nicely and tastes delicious. I love the ease of the one bowl method. I'm a huge fan of anything mocha and haven't found a better recipe!
Doesn't taste much like Mocha but it was a nice fudgy cake. VERY runny batter. Be sure to scrape the bottom of your mixer the method of adding all dry and then all liquid tends to make the dry stuff stick onto the bottom. I was worried at runny batter but it was fine after baking. Iced with the coffee as recommended and served for Father's Day. Everyone loved it.
This cake is so delicious and moist but I added WAY more instant coffee than called for and it added a barely-there mocha flavor. Iced with coffee frosting from this site and it was amazing! 4 stars because I had to change the amounts of ingredients.
Wow I was not expecting such rave reviews from everyone!! I have made sooooo many similar chocolate cakes before I just thought this one would get a regular average raction. Most said "this is the ultimate chocoalte cake!!" My brother said it would be perfect for a wedding cake! The texture was so perfect. A slight crisp on the outside chewy and chocolatey on the inside yummy! It was very easy to take out of the pans.(I did flour the pans as well). Also very easy to cut each cake in two to make four layers total. I filled two layers with chocolate ganache and one layer with marshmallow cream cheese icing and topped with coffee frosting from this site. I did double the coffee but used decaf to make it more child friendly or suitable for non-coffee drinkers and added a splash of vanilla. The flavour came through perfectly. For a hard to please family let me tell you this cake was truly awesome! Thanks for sharing the recipe:)!!
Very easy cake to make moist and YUMMY! I added a bit more coffee to get the mocha flavor and a touch of cinnamon at the request of my 9 year old and this very quickly became her favorite cake.Thanks for a great recipe:)
The texture of this cake is wonderful but I can't taste the coffee flavour at all--even though I doubled the amount of coffee. I made the Coffee Icing as recommended and the coffee flavour in that surpassed that of the cake. I think this recipe makes a good chocolate cake but not a mocha one.
