If you like coffee & chocolate......you will love this cake!
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and then grease & flour 2 round cake pans - 8 or 9 inch, either is fine. (I used my pan-ease mixture)
In a measuring cup or heat-resistant bowl, add 3 tablespoons of instant coffee granules.
Stir in 1 cup boiling water, and set aside.
Now, in a large mixing bowl, or your mixer's bowl - add 2 cups flour.
2 cups of sugar
3 Tablespoons Baking Cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
And mix it all up.
Now, in a small saucepan, melt your butter.
Pour in the coffee mixture.
Mmmmmm...Coffee & Butter....looking good baby!
Remove it from the heat.
Now, if you are like me, and you NEVER buy buttermilk, this is what you do. Of course, if you do have buttermilk on hand, go right ahead and use that...but since I rarely use it and have no need to buy it, this is my tip:
In the measuring cup, measure 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice.
And pour in enough milk to give you the 1/2 cup you need. Then set aside.
Now in a small mixing bowl, you will bet two eggs.
Mix in your milk
Now add 2 teaspoons vanilla
and 1 teaspoon baking soda
Now, while you are mixing it, slowly pour in 1/2 cup of the coffee & butter.
This will warm your egg mixture, so you don't get scrambled eggs in your cake.
Then slowly mix the egg mixture into the saucepan. Mix it all together.
Now you are going to pour all of the liquid ingredients into your large mixing bowl of dry ingredients.
And mix it until it is just smooth.
Pour it into your cake pans.
Bake them for 23-28 minutes, or until the cakes test done in the center with a toothpick.
After allowing to cool a couple minutes, remove cakes from pans and cook completely.
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Now, here is confession time, and proof that I am "keeping it real" on this blog.
Number 1 = I HATE my cake pans. No matter how or what I coat my pans with, my cakes ALWAYS stick.
And Number 2 = I am NOT a perfect cook.
This is the evidence.
My cakes stuck. Bad. One of them was in pieces. But I just placed all the pieces back where they go.
But I don't give up, and if you have this problem, neither should you!
Why? You'll see.
Now when your cakes are cool, time for the frosting.
In a medium or large mixing bowl, beat 1 1/2 sticks of room temperature butter until light and fluffy.
Add in 2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons baking cocoa
...and now 1 lb of powdered/confectioner's sugar
and then you are going to add in enough cream or 1/2 & 1/2 until you have a nice, spreadable consistencey. Add your cream slowly, a little at a time. How much you will need will depend on the dryness of your ingredients.
I couldn't believe this, but with my mixer making all that noise, my youngest actually fell asleep on the sofa.
He never falls asleep! I think he is hitting a growth spurt. Oh help me!
Now.....take one of your cake layers, and place it on the serving dish or platter.
Layer some frosting on, and place the other layer on top.
This is why I didn't panic over the broken cake. I place the "bad" layer on the bottom. The weight and moisture of the cake and frosting, presses all those pieces together. When I cut this cake a couple hours later, it stayed together like any other cake. No one knew I had had a near disaster except me.
Finish frosting your cake, and tada! All done!
Just wipe the stray crumbs off the platter, and you are finished!
This one was for my hubby's 38th birthday.
PRINTABLE VERSION: Mocha Cake
