A rich and chocolatey caramel mocha cake filled with a luscious chocolate cake, easy caramel frosting, and fun sprinkles! This is the perfect chocolate cake recipe for coffee and caramel lovers!
I love all things chocolate! And even though I don’t drink coffee on the daily, I love the taste of the two of them together. This is the first layer cake recipe to hit the blog, but definitely not the last. In this recipe I share how to make a rich mocha cake, an easy caramel frosting, how to frost a layer cake, and tips and tricks!
Caramel Mocha Cake Ingredients:
Cake:
- All Purpose Flour:
- Cocoa Powder: I use regular cocoa powder. You can read more about the differences in cocoa powder in these posts.
- Baking Soda: Make sure your baking soda is not expired.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder makes the cake light and puffy.
- Unsalted Butter: Make sure your butter is at room temperature. Either leave it out for a few hours before starting or zap it in the microwave for 10 seconds.
- Granulated Sugar: Caster sugar will also work in this scenario.
- Eggs: Make sure your eggs are at room temperature to avoid a curdled batter.
- Vanilla Extract: Even though it’s a chocolate cake, vanilla boosts flavor.
- Milk: Just like the eggs, have the milk at room temperature.
- Coffee: I brewed a dark roast coffee blend in my Keurig, but any plain coffee will work.
Caramel Buttercream (not pictured):
- Butter: I prefer unsalted butter, but salted butter will work in a pinch.
- Powdered Sugar: Please sift your powdered sugar; it eliminates any lumps.
- Granulated Sugar: This is used for the caramel.
- Heavy Cream: Also used for the caramel.
- Salt: Adding salt helps to cut down on over-sweetness.
How to make Caramel Frosting:
This caramel frosting recipe took me four tries to make it perfect! Many caramel buttercream’s are made by making a butter strong caramel sauce on the stove and then immediately whipping it in the stand mixer with powdered sugar. While in theory this works, if one granual of sugar is not melted, the entire mixture will crystallize. Instead, I opt for a classic American buttercream that is paddled to a smooth and stiff consistency before a salty sweet caramel sauce is drizzled in. This method has two major perks.
- You get to decide how much caramel you want. If you like a super strong caramel, add a whole bunch, and if you only want an aftertaste, add only 1 tablespoon.
- You can use store-bought caramel. If making caramel isn’t your thing, you can EASILY swap for a pre-made sauce.
Start by making a caramel. Stir together water and sugar before placing on the heat. Once heat is added, DO NOT STIR. Let slowly turn into a light amber caramel before streaming in the heavy cream. Slowly whisk, avoiding over-agitating the caramel in the process. Remove from the heat and add the butter. This will take at least 2 minutes of stirring and over agitation is not an issue.
While the caramel cools, cream the butter in a stand mixer for 6-8 minutes on high until super light and creamy; this helps to make a stable buttercream. Then slowly add in sifted powdered sugar and salt and let beat for another 5 minutes until creamy. Finally, drizzle in caramel sauce and beat until fully combined. Let sit in the fridge while not using.
How to Assemble a Layer Cake:
Layer cakes are tricky and I’m the first to say it takes lots and lots of practice. There are some key tools you will need like a good offset spatula, serrated knife, and cake turntable. If you’re a beginner cake baker I highly recommend reading this post by Liz @ BuuckFarmsBakery for more tips.
Start by leveling your cakes. Using a serrated knife slowly saw the knife through the top of the cake to remove the dome. If this sounds daunting, a cake leveler can be a handy tool.
Then place your bottom cake layer onto the turntable. Add two to three scoops of frosting on top of the cake layer and smooth out with your offset spatula (Note: It’s better to have more than less). Then add the second layer of cake on top of it. Once again, add a few more scoops of caramel buttercream and smooth. Finally, add the final layer of cake on top. Flip it crumb side down so you can avoid crumbs covering the top of your cake.
After that, create a crumb coat. A crumb coat is a thin layer of buttercream that is added around the cake to lock in the crumbs before the final coat is added. To do this, dab a bit of frosting on the sides and top of the cake and smooth out using your offset spatula. Let chill for 30 minutes.
To finish it off, add however much frosting you desire to the rest of the cake and smooth again. This is a great time to get creative with the spatula- you can add swirls, swoops, or stripes. I like to finish my caramel mocha cake with a thin layer on the sides and a swirl on top!
Cake Tips and Tricks:
Caramel seizes when it crystallizes. The key to avoid crystallization is to not agitate the sugar when melting. Instead of stirring the sugar/water mixture, gently swirl the saucepan. I also talk about it in this post.
The biggest key to avoiding a curdled cake batter is to have ALL the ingredients at room temperature. It isn’t full-proof but does mitigate most risks of curdling.
Frosting melts off cake during assembly if the cake layers are still warm. Give your cakes ample time to cool (I recommend at least 1.5 hours) to ensure the butter from the frosting won’t melt when it touches your cake.
Caramel Mocha Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: Hard
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
A rich and chocolatey caramel mocha cake filled with a luscious chocolate cake, easy caramel frosting, and fun sprinkles! This is the perfect chocolate cake recipe for coffee and caramel lovers!
Ingredients
Mocha Cake:
- 259g/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup/90 g cocoa
- 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 180g softened unsalted butter/ 13 tablespoons
- 400g/2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 210/ 3/4 cup milk
- 100g/1/2 cup dark roast brewed coffee
Caramel Sauce
- 1/3 cup/66g granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tsp salt
Caramel Frosting
- 1 cup softened unsalted butter
- 360g/3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup caramel sauce
Instructions
Mocha Cake:
1) Grease 3 6×2 inch cake pans with baking spray and tap with flour. Add parchment circles that have been cut to the size of the pans. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2) Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and coffee.
3) In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together sugar and butter for 3 to 5 minutes until light and creamy. Scrape down the bowl and paddle with a spatula.
4) Add in eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla. Scrape down bowl again.
5) Mix in 1/3 of dry ingredients and then one half of wet ingredients. Mix in another 1/3 of dry ingredients, rest of wet ingredients, and then final dry ingredients. The pattern should by dry-wet-dry-wet-dry.
6) Portion batter into cake tins, eyeballing that they are at equal heights, and tap them down onto the counter to release air-bubbles. Bake for roughly 40 minutes until springy and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
Caramel:
7) While cake bakes, make the caramel. Stir together sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a low heat. Once heat is added, DO NOT STIR. Let heat for 7-8 minutes until light amber.
8) Pour in heavy cream and begin slowly whisking it in. Let simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and add in butter. Let cool.
Frosting:
9) Beat softened butter in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 3-4 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time and continue to beat.
10) Slowly drizzle in COOLED caramel and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Depending on climate, add more powdered sugar if necessary.
Assembly:
1) If cakes are domed, slice the domes off slowly with a serrated knife. Place bottom cake layer, crumb side down, onto your cake turntable and add a heaping amount of frosting. Smooth out into an even layer allowing some to hang over the sides.
2) Place second layer of cake onto the first layer and add frosting on top of it. Once again, smooth out with an offset spatula.
3) Place third and final layer of cake crumb side down onto the second. Add a thin amount of frosting to the top and add a thin amount to the sides.
4) Use a large spatula or cake scraper to create a crumb coat by removing only a very thin amount of frosting from the sides. Let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5) Once cake is chilled, begin piling larger amounts of frosting onto the sides. Smooth out with offset spatula to your liking.
6) Once you feel like the cake is frosted to your liking, decorate with a chocolate drip, swirls, or anything you please!
Notes
I recommend making the cake layers one day in advance and assembling the next day when cooled.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 409
- Sugar: 42.5g
- Sodium: 203mg
- Fat: 20.2g
- Saturated Fat: 13.9g
- Carbohydrates: 55.5g
- Fiber: 1.9g
- Protein: 4.1g
- Cholesterol: 92mg
Keywords: chocolate, coffee, caramel, cake