Chocolate Coffee Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

 Cakes and flowers and cards and gifts! Yes, it's Birthday time! It was my husband's birthday yesterday and I and my son made sure he had a good one. A lot of brainstorming for the gifts, party or no party, meals at home or go to some restaurant, what flavor of cake and so on. Gift part became easy this time as he himself decided what he wanted and so it was. It was a weekend, so we had enough time to celebrate. Now the most important, the cake. After I have started baking, all the cakes that we eat are made by me. But after I have started to blog, one thing has gone wrong. I do not want to repeat the same thing again. It should always have to be something new and exciting. Chocolate and coffee are our favorite flavors for desserts and they are a match made in heaven and I haven't tried the combination yet in a cake. So without any second thought, I decided to make this Chocolate Coffee Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Everything went perfect! Card made by kiddo, flowers that I got, birthday song played by Bhavye on guitar,cutting that moist and soft and dreamy chocolate espresso cake, and then spending the entire day hopping from here and there, eating a lunch buffet and then ice cream in the evening, followed by a cuppa and a simple meal of banana leaf. Mohit was happy and so were we. I got a book as a return gift ( my self-made norm ) which I wanted for a long time and I love Mohit to remember it and order it for me.

If you love coffee and if you love chocolate, this Chocolate Coffee Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a sure shot hit. Soft, moist and very chocolaty, this cake recipe is a keeper. The satiny and smooth Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream was the perfect frosting for this layer cake. 

Be it on birthdays, anniversaries or for out of the blue treat, Chocolate Coffee Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a delish delight that must be tried at least once. Here's a quick guide to bake it at home:

 

 

 

Chocolate Coffee Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

 Course Dessert

 Cuisine American

 Author Neha Mathur

Ingredients

• For the cake
• All purpose flour - 1 and 1/4 cup
• Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
• Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Instant coffee powder - 1 tbsp
• Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup softened
• Powdered sugar - 1 cup
• Egg - 2
• Buttermilk - 1/2 cup If buttermilk is not available, add 3-4 lemon drops in milk and keep for 5 minutes
• Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
• For soaking syrup
• Water - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 2 tsp
• Instant coffee powder - 1 tsp you can use vanilla extract or any liqueur
• For the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Butter cream
• Egg white - 3
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Unsalted butter - 225 gm softened
• Melted chocolate - 125 gm
• Vanilla extract -1/2 tsp

Instructions

1. For the cake
2. Grease and dust an 8 inch pan.
3. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and coffee powder in a bowl.
5. Beat sugar and butter in a bowl till light and fluffy.
6. Add egg one at a time.
7. Mix nicely after each addition.
8. Add half of the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix.
9. Add buttermilk and mix till combined.
10. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix till combined.
11. Pour the batter in the prepared pan.
12. Bake for 35-40 minutes, till a tooth pick comes out clean.
13. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
14. Transfer the cake on a cooling rack and cool.
15. For the soaking syrup
16. Heat water and sugar till sugar is dissolved.
17. Cool.
18. Add instant black coffee or whichever flavoring you are adding.
19. For the Chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream
20. Heat egg whites and sugar in a steel bowl over a pot of simmering water.
21. The water should not touch the bottom of the pan and it should be only simmering not boiling.
22. Heat until the mixture feels a little warm to touch and is smooth to touch.
23. Keep whisking continuously.
24. Turn off the heat and whisk the mixture with a whisk attachment with your blender.
25. Whisk till the meringue triples in volume and the bowl is at room temperature.
26. Add butter about 2 tbsp at a time with the machine running.
27. Mix until all the butter is incorporated.
28. Add vanilla extract and mix.
29. Add the melted chocolate and mix till combined.
30. Keep scraping the sides of the bowl.
31. Assembling the cake
32. Divide the cake into 2 layers.
33. Keep one layer on the serving plate and brush it with half of the soaking syrup.
34. Pour 1 cup of frosting on this layer and spread evenly.
35. Cover the frosting with another layer of cake.
36. Brush this layer with the remaining soaking syrup.
37. Pour the remaining frosting to top and cover the cake.
38. Refrigerate for a little while if the frosting is too soft.
39. Decorate as you want.