Chocolate Coffee Cake

Been busy with the flow of things lately, but I woke up at 7 am to make this chocolate coffee cake I made for my mom's birthday. It took about 3 hours from start to finish including baking and cooling time.




Here's the recipe:

Cake:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cacao powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (you can also just use butter, but I felt like being healthy)
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup milk 
• 1 cup sour cream

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 2 6-in cake pans.
2. Dry mixture: whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
3. Wet mixture: With the paddle attachment on a stand mixture, mix butter, sugar, coconut oil, almond extract, and eggs.
4. Alternate the dry mixture and the milk into wet mixture until fully incorporated, then add sour cream. 
5. Divide batter among cake pans and bake for 30 minutes. Allow enough time to cool before frosting/decorating. 
6. Make buttercream frosting (see other cake recipes for recipe), and add 1 tbsp of coffee. Divide the now cooled cake into 4 layers and slather the frosting onto each layer and crumb coat sides. Garnish with sliced almonds if not allergic. 
7. It's important to refrigerate post-crumb coating. Refrigerate for around 20-30 minutes and prepare chocolate ganache in the meanwhile.
8. Ganache is simple: 1:2 ratio of heavy whipping cream: bittersweet chocolate. Scald the milk on the stovetop for a couple of minutes and then pour over chocolate. Wait a couple of minutes before whisking the heavy cream with the chocolate. 
9. Wait for the ganache to cool completely and constantly check its consistency in relation to its cooling to room temperature. Slather onto the top of the cake once ready and use a butter knife to "encourage" the drips down the edges of the cake. 
10. Use remaining buttercream to pipe stars on the top. Refrigerate to allow the cake to salvage its structure, and enjoy!