Moist chocolate cake with subtle hints of coffee frosted with the best ever Mocha flavored buttercream and finished off with almonds, this cake is for all the coffee lovers out there.
There are two types on people of this planet, those who love coffee and those who don’t. I’m of course one of the former, so when I was invited for a coffee tasting session at the newly (re) launched Boheme in Delhi I couldn’t pass. If you’re from Delhi you probably already know that one in HKV shut down. Good news is that it re-opened at Vasant Vihar in a completely new avatar. This place is everything you want your neighborhood cafe to be, too bad I don’t live in the neighborhood (not even close) but if I did, this is where you’d find me – day in and day out. Why? #1 It is GORGEOUS! This place has interiors that make you feel like you’re home, a really comfortable almost British with lots of huge sofas and natural light type home. And #2 They have the most interesting menu I’ve come across in a long long time. Imagine having one of the best south Indian style spicy beetroot soup and Thai style prawns in the same place…and loving both of them!
And that’s not even the interesting bit. What’s most interesting about the place is it’s dedication to serving not just good but great coffee. Fun fact: Did you know coffee is supposed to calm you down? Well, I didn’t. Why? Because I always feel like I’m on steroids when I have it and thanks to this coffee tasting I now know that that’s not how it’s supposed to make you feel. The coffee used at Boheme is eco-natural aka the good stuff. They don’t just use the good stuff, they also treat it well and this is why their beans are caramelized to develop a distinct taste. I can never have espresso because I think it’s too bitter without milk but guess what? I had espresso at Boheme..and it wasn’t bitter. Turns out the whole process of caramelizing the beans is what takes the bitterness out and bring out the real flavour of the beans. Guess I’ll be going back for more soon.
Obviously the tasting had it’s lasting effects on me and I was inspired to bake something with coffee so I went with my instincts (which is not always the best thing in baking but works for me) and developed this Mocha Almond Cake recipe for all you coffee lovers! This cake is super-moist and makes for a great tea-time coffee-time cake. You can have it on it’s own but I prefer it with the Mocha flavored buttercream which is actually the jewel of the crown here. It’s what makes this cake taste so damn delicious. This is the first time I made it but let me just tell you those who ate it, now LOVE it.
- For the Cake
- • Flour, 1 cup or 130 grams approx.
- • Cocoa Powder, ¼th cup
- • Baking Powder, 1 teaspoon
- • Softened Butter, 3 tablespoons
- • Sugar, ½ cup or 100 grams approx. (I used a ¼th cup white sugar and ¼th cup dark brown sugar)
- • Egg on Room Temp, 1 (or ⅓rd cup Yogurt)
- • Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon
- • Dark Chocolate, 100 grams (melted)
- • Good Quality Instant Coffee Granules, 2 tablespoons (mixed with 3 tablespoons of warm water)
- • Coca Cola, ⅓rd cup or 80 ml
- • Almonds, ⅓rd cup (chopped)
- For the Mocha Buttercream
- • Unsalted Butter, 150 grams
- • Whipping Cream (35%-40% fat content), 4 tablespoons
- • Icing Sugar, ⅔ cup or 75 grams approx.
- • Instant Coffee Granules, 2 teaspoon (mixed with ½ teaspoon water)
- • Cocoa Powder, ⅓ cup
- • Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon
- Preheat your oven for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 6" round tin with my miracle cake release mix or the way you like.
- In a bowl sieve flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Keep aside to be used later.
- In another bowl, whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This should take around 4-5 minutes with an electric mixer. Once done, add in the egg and whisk until properly combined.
- Add in the vanilla essence and melted chocolate and mix again until everything comes together.
- Next, add in the flour mix from step 2 to this little by little. Keep alternating with the coffee and coca cola until everything is properly combined and a smooth batter is formed. Make sure you don't use a mixer for this step. Use only a spatula or a wooden spoon or you could incorporate way too much air.
- Pour the batter in the greased tin and bake at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out with a few crumbs. It won't be clean because of all the melted chocolate in the batter so don't worry.
- While the cake is baking prepare your frosting. In a bowl whisk butter until really fluffy, this should take around 4 minutes with an electric mixer. Make sure your butter is soft to begin with.
- In a separate bowl, whisk cold whipping cream and coffee granules until stiff peaks are formed and the coffee is mixed. Using a spatula, fold the whipped cream in the butter that you whisked in the previous step. Add vanilla essence, icing sugar and cocoa powder and whisk again until everything comes together nicely and forms a creamy buttercream. DO NOT OVERWHISK or the buttercream will split.
- Once your cake cools down, cover it with the Mocha buttercream and sprinkle the chopped almonds all over it.
- For storage instructions, read this post.
For more info about Boheme, please visit their Facebook, Instagram or Zomato profile.
Looking for more similar recipes? Try these..
Banoffee Cake
double chocolate muffins (eggless)
hershey’s chocolate cake with chocolate frosting
chocolate swirl banana muffins
double chocolate and walnut banana bread
For more recipes, go here.
Great cakes !!
Thank you Charu! 🙂
Another keeper of a recipe. I love the fact that you have given the recipe for a 6″ cake.
Thank you so much Aruna! 🙂 I love 6″ cakes too!
Hi Radhika..thank you so so much for sharing this lovely recepie..I ll try the eggless version soon 🙂 :*.. I had two queries :
1) what depth cake tin you use and where to get high depth cake tins in Delhi?
2) what’s d purpose of coca cola in this
Thanks a lot 🙂 🙂
Hi Sakshi! This one in particular is approx 2 inches deep. I’m sure you can find high depth tins in places like pigmento Jungpura, GK, or even online. I’ve used coke here to add lightness to the sponge and also a little flavour. 🙂
Love love love ur recipes … They r simple n too the point
Thank you Sheetal! Hope you try this one out! 🙂
Thank you so much Radhika..you are such an angel 🙂
The melted chocolate part, will that go when the cake cools? I’m making it for someone so won’t be able to check.
Hi anukriti! Are you talking about the melted chocolate inside the cake, if yes, then unfortunately it will go away 🙂 There’s nothing we can do about it! Sorry!
I baked this cake for a friend’s birthday yesterday. The cake had a nice rich coffee flavour and when paired with your light fluffy buttercream it tasted just like a cup of coffee. The almonds add a nice crunch. It was really delicious and everyone seemed to love it, especially the coffee lovers.
Your cakes taste awesome radhika but I can never manage to get a good height even after whisking the butter and sugar properly and using a 6″ tin. Yesterday’s cake, though very delicious ,was quite flat- just an inch tall.
Hi purvi! If the cake is cooked properly, it quite possible that you’re using a bigger mould. Your batter should cover atleast half of the tin, I let it cover up to 2/3rd 🙂