Chocolate Espresso Cake

Chocolate Espresso Cake - rich mocha cake with layers of glossy espresso buttercream. The perfect dessert for coffee lovers.

Are you a coffee-obsessed chocoholic? Me too. This Chocolate Espresso Cake recipe will quench your cravings with its bold espresso kick, balanced out beautifully with the sweet, indulgent cocoa flavor of the chocolate sponge. The combination of coffee and chocolate never fails to hit the spot, so what better than a decadent mocha cake to bring them together?

After the huge success of my Coffee Cupcakes, I knew I wanted to create a fabulous cake for all the coffee lovers out there, this time bringing in the cocoa for all you chocolate lovers too!

If you love the sound of this recipe, you'll love my Tiramisu cake, which is another dream espresso dessert, or my Opera Cake for a special occasion. This chocolatey, moist, coffee-flavored cake is definitely my caffeine-addicted fiance's new favorite treat!

Jump to:

Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Make Chocolate Espresso Cake
Make Coffee Buttercream
Troubleshooting
Assemble and Decorate
Equipment
Storage
FAQs
More Coffee Desserts
Recipe

Why You'll Love This Recipe

It blends two moreish baking treasures - chocolate and coffee - for a showstopper mocha cake recipe.
Fresh espresso powder = fresh coffee flavors.
Made easy with step-by-step pictures and instructions.

Ingredients

My Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake uses many ingredients that you likely already have at home, plus a few more that you can find in your local supermarket.

Flour - I used all-purpose flour, but you could also use cake flour or self-raising flour (just leave out the baking powder if using self-raising).
Sugar - Use regular white sugar, or substitute half of the white sugar for brown sugar to create a toasty caramel flavor.
Eggs - Use large eggs, free-range if you can.
Cocoa Powder - Dutch processed cocoa powder will give you the best results. Natural cocoa powder will work too, but can often create a denser cake.
Vegetable Oil - Using oil instead of butter in the sponge helps to make an extra moist cake.
Fresh Milk - Whole milk is best but you can use whatever kind of milk you have.
Espresso Powder - This is different than regular instant coffee granules. Though the packaging looks similar, the coffee is super fine, like a powder. Look for anything that says espresso powder or instant espresso powder.

You can adjust the amount of espresso powder used in the frosting to suit your taste. If you'd like a more subtle flavor, add only 2 tablespoons, or if you would like a very strong espresso buttercream, you can add another tablespoon or two.
Vanilla - You can use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, or even a real vanilla pod if you like, but try to avoid vanilla essence.
Condensed Milk - Be sure to choose sweetened condensed milk and not evaporated milk, which can look similar.
Butter - For the glossy coffee buttercream. It's best to use unsalted butter, and it's essential that it's room temperature before you begin whisking it.

See the recipe card for quantities.

Make Chocolate Espresso Cake

This chocolate cake recipe is incredibly easy to make and will take just a few minutes to prepare the batter. You can add more espresso powder if you would like an even stronger coffee flavor in your mocha cake.

Mix Dry Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 335°F / 170°C and prepare two 8-inch cake pans.

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and combine.

Add Wet Ingredients

Into the flour mixture, add the eggs, vegetable oil, fresh milk and vanilla and mix until combined and free from lumps.

You can use a mixer if you want but it's super easy to do by hand with a whisk.

Add Coffee

Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula or wooden spoon to ensure there are no dry ingredients stuck there.

Now, dissolve the espresso powder in the hot water and add to the cake batter. Stir until combined.

Pour into Pans

Pour the batter evenly between your two prepared cake pans and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. The bake time will vary greatly depending on your oven, so make sure to keep an eye on it once you reach the 20-minute mark.

Leave the sponges to cool in the cake pans for at least 30 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Measuring Ingredients: I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a kitchen scale, rather than using measuring cups. It's very difficult to measure accurately with cups and this can mess up your bakes.

Make Coffee Buttercream

This silky espresso buttercream is a coffee-infused version of my Russian buttercream. The great thing about Russian buttercream is that it is incredibly easy to make and tastes divine! For more info and tips on making this frosting, check out my Russian Buttercream post.

Whip the Butter

Start by making sure your butter is at room temperature. The butter temperature is super important so the buttercream doesn't split. I find the best results when I remove my butter from the fridge about an hour to an hour and a half before using it.

Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip with a whisk attachment at medium-high speed for 5 full minutes, regularly scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Add in Condensed Milk

After 5 minutes, the butter should be super pale and creamy. Turn the mixer down to a medium speed and very gradually drizzle in the condensed milk.

Let it mix and incorporate as you go to avoid splitting.

Keep Mixing

Once all the condensed milk is incorporated, turn the mixer back up to high speed and whip for another minute.

Incorporate Espresso

In a separate small bowl, add the espresso powder and 1-2 tablespoons of hot water, and stir until totally dissolved.

Add the espresso mix to your frosting along with a teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt, then continue to whip the espresso Russian buttercream for a further minute on maximum speed.

It should be thick and glossy and able to form stiff peaks.

Troubleshooting

If your buttercream doesn't look silky smooth or thick, see my Russian Buttercream post for troubleshooting. If your frosting looks like it became too aerated in the whipping process, you can mix it on low speed with a paddle attachment for one minute to make it smoother.

Assemble and Decorate

Swirls of coffee russian buttercream on espresso layer cake.

Stack and Fill

Once the cakes have completely cooled, cut them in half to form four thinner cake layers instead of two. I like to use a cake leveler, but a serrated knife will work too.

Start with a layer of mocha sponge on your serving plate or turntable, and top with a generous helping of the coffee buttercream and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Place another layer of cake on top of this, and repeat until you have all four cake layers.

Decorate

If you want to leave it as a 'naked' cake, you can leave the sides bare and just pipe or spread some frosting on top of the cake. For the look I've created, spread a thin layer of frosting all over the top and sides of the cake as a crumb coat. Let sit for 15 minutes before spreading a thicker layer of frosting all over the cake and smoothing it out with a pastry scraper or palette knife.

Grab a piping bag, and pipe some rosettes on top of the cake and decorate with chocolate shavings and/or curls or chocolate-covered espresso beans to create the ultimate chocolatey coffee cake.

Equipment

Stand Mixer - You definitely want to use a stand mixer to make the espresso Russian buttercream as it will be very tiring to do by hand.
Cake Pans - I used 8-inch cake pans, but the recipe would also work with 9-inch pans.
Palette Knife - This will help you spread the espresso frosting on nice and smoothly. You can also use a pastry scraper.
Piping bag - An optional tool, but it's great for taking your decoration to the next level.

Storage

Store your chocolate espresso cake in an airtight container. It is best kept at room temperature as the fridge will dry it out. Eat within 3-5 days of baking.

gif of slice of chocolate espresso cake being eaten.

FAQs

If you have a question about this recipe that isn't answered here, feel free to write it in the comment section and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Can I use real espresso?

I have experimented a lot with using freshly brewed espresso in my baking, and although it has a delicious and strong coffee flavor, it requires too much liquid to be added to the mixture to achieve the level of flavor we want.

That's why espresso powder is a perfect option for baking; you can get the incredible espresso flavor without having to water down your batter too much. If you'd like a recipe that does use real espresso, check out my Tiramisu Cake.

More Coffee Desserts

If you love getting your caffeine and sugar fix together, you might enjoy some of these other coffee-infused treats.

Recipe