Chocolate coffee cake

Chocolate coffee cake

45 min
Why settle for drinking coffee when you could be eating it? For your next coffee break, try a creamy coffee cake with chocolate-covered coffee beans on top. Garnishing with coffee beans adds a crunchy element to the silky-soft coffee and chocolate cake and accentuates the cake's adult flavours. Our recipe for chocolate coffee cake yields a deliciously dense cake with lots of bold, rich flavours. Serve the with ice-cold whipped cream for a splash of bright freshness.
https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/chocolate-coffee-cake/

Instructions

Chocolate coffee cake:
  • Preheat the oven to 175°C regular oven.
  • Melt butter and fold in cocoa powder.
  • Beat egg and sugar light and fluffy.
  • Crush coffee beans finely in a mortar or in a coffee grinder and fold them into the egg mixture along with vanilla sugar, cocoa-butter mixture, coffee, and flour.
  • Line a springform pan (approx. 22 cm in diameter) and pour the batter in.
  • Bake the chocolate coffee cake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes.
Assembling:
  • Place chocolate coffee beans on top of the cake while it is still warm.
  • Let it cool on a baking tray.
  • Serve the chocolate coffee cake with ice-cold whipped cream.
Enjoy!
Tips

No matter how you make the coffee for the chocolate coffee cake, make sure to let it cool a bit. It must be at least room-temperature, or it will be too warm when added, affecting the other ingredients.

Tips

If you enjoy soft, gooey centres in your chocolate cakes, like those known from a molten chocolate lava cake, we have good news for you: you can use this chocolate coffee cake recipe to make a soft and gooey treat. Simply bake the cake for 5 minutes less than described and serve it immediately for a delicious molten centre. Remember to use pasteurised eggs.

Questions about chocolate coffee cake

With our moist chocolate coffee cake recipe, it is easy to bake a deliciously rich cake, making all your coffee and chocolate cake dreams come true. Below, you can learn more about coffee chocolate cake by reading some of the most frequently asked questions about it.

How to make a chocolate coffee cake?
Baking a rich and intense chocolate coffee cake is easy. Make sure to beat egg and sugar until light and fluffy to make the batter aerated and choose your favourite coffee, making it stronger or milder depending on how much coffee flavour you want. Remember, that you mix the coffee with all the other ingredients, so make sure to make it stronger than you would for drinking it on its own. After baking, garnish the chocolate coffee cake with chocolate-covered coffee beans while it is still warm and let it cool before serving with ice-cold whipped cream.
How much coffee to add to coffee cake?
The amount of coffee added to a coffee and chocolate cake depends on how much liquid is added to the batter in addition to the coffee – not so much how much coffee flavour you want. To determine how strong it should be, think about what kind of coffee to use and how strong to make it. For example, use more regular instant coffee than say espresso powder as the latter is more intense. We use just 1 dl strong coffee, giving the cake a moist and soft texture, and add ground coffee beans to give more flavour.
How to add coffee to chocolate cake?
Adding coffee to chocolate cake can be accomplished in a few different ways. You can, as suggested in our recipe, add ground coffee beans as well as coffee that has already been brewed. It is also possible to make chocolate coffee cake with instant coffee powder or dry espresso powder mixed with the other dry ingredients.
Why do you put coffee in chocolate cake?
Coffee works very well as a flavour enhancer, and in this chocolate coffee cake, the coffee serves to enhance the natural flavours of the chocolate. Adding just a little bit of brewed coffee or instant coffee granules will not make your baked goods or desserts taste 100% like coffee, but will simply accentuate the chocolate flavour, making the cake richer and more decadent.

Ingredients

Chocolate coffee cake:
Butter
150 g
Cocoa powder (approx. 1 dl)
50 g
Eggs
2
Sugar (approx. 3 dl)
250 g
Coffee beans
2 tbsp
Vanilla sugar
1 tsp
Strong coffee
1 dl
Flour (approx. 2 dl)
125 g
Garnish:
Chocolate-covered coffee beans
½ dl
Served with:
Double cream
¼ l

Intense-flavoured chocolate coffee cake

A deep, dark chocolate cake with coffee flavour and whipped cream – this cake is like a tasty caffè mocha in cake form. It has both ground coffee beans and brewed coffee in it as well as crunchy chocolate-covered coffee beans on top, giving it big, bold flavours from both coffee and chocolate. Serve the dense chocolate coffee cake with a side of ice-cold whipped cream to add different textures and brighten the intense cake.

Are you a true coffee lover who cannot get enough of the distinctive flavour? Check out our recipe for a classic iced coffee, perfect for a hot day, or, if you are feeling a bit more adventurous, have a look at our recipe for frappé, a cold, whipped coffee drink from Greece, or the South Korean dalgona coffee, a drink consisting of ice-cold milk and a thick coffee foam.

Discover the joy of adding coffee to chocolate cake

Adding coffee to chocolate cake is a great way of enhancing the flavour of the chocolate, making the rich taste even more intense. It makes for a decadent coffee chocolate cake with a creamy and moist mouthfeel. Depending on the coffee you use, the flavour of the coffee itself may not be very noticeable but the way the chocolate flavour stands out will be. Coffee in chocolate cake may just be the secret flavour weapon you never knew you needed.

Choosing the right coffee

If you do not own a coffee maker, do not despair, it is entirely possible to make coffee chocolate cake with instant coffee. Since this recipe calls for 1 dl of strong coffee, you may need to brew it slightly stronger than you are used to if you choose to do so. Using espresso powder or a coffee blend made from darkly roasted beans to brew the needed coffee will provide more richness as well as a more intense coffee flavour. You can also make a big shot of espresso or lungo on a machine, if you happen to have one. Be careful not to make it too strong, unless you want to make a bolder, darker-tasting chocolate coffee cake. So, which coffee is right for you, depends on how much you would like the cake to taste like coffee. 

Make it your own

A rich coffee chocolate cake tastes wonderful with a homemade buttercream frosting. Our buttercream recipe is easy to follow as well as quick to make. You can even prepare it while the cake is in the oven. A classic, sweet vanilla buttercream pairs well with this chocolate coffee cake, but you can also choose to accentuate the flavours that are already present by tweaking the recipe to make a coffee or chocolate buttercream frosting to make the cake even more intense.

You can either frost this easy chocolate coffee cake with the buttercream or experiment with making your own elegant, layered coffee chocolate cake. Bake two of these cakes, halve them both, and layer them with buttercream for a tall, decadent coffee and chocolate cake perfect for serving to friends and family at a special occasion. Consider adding some of the chocolate coffee beans to the buttercream for a fun and crunchy surprise.