Mexican Chocolate Cake w/ Cinnamon Frosting
This Mexican chocolate cake is made with chocolate cake that is spiced with cinnamon and cayenne pepper and is topped with cinnamon frosting.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 cups Granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 3 Eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
- ⅔ cup Cocoa powder
- ½ cup Vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup Buttermilk
- ¾ cup Coffee hot
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder
- 2 cups Flour AP or cake flour
For the cinnamon frosting
- 1 ½ cups Butter room temp
- 4 cups Powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ cup Heavy cream
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare a 9 by 13 inch pan with parchment paper.
- Into a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, vegetable oil, buttermilk, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and granulated sugar, sift the cocoa powder, and mix with a whisk.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and mix with a whisk until almost combined.
- Add the hot coffee and mix until the batter is smooth and has no lumps of flour.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake the cake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting so the frosting won't melt off the cake.
Make the cinnamon buttercream frosting
- Into a large bowl add room temperature butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, heavy cream, and kosher salt, and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until it is light and fluffy.
- Then add ½ of the powdered sugar at a time (you don’t want to be in a powdered sugar cloud) and mix until smooth and silky.
- Top the chilled chocolate cake with the frosting, make swirls using an offset spatula, and sprinkle chocolate shavings on top. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and buttermilk. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Make sure that you are using fresh ingredients like baking soda and baking powder. If they are expired your cake will not rise up beautifully.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with the back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Serve at room temperature for optimal taste. Bring the chocolate cake to room temperature before serving to ensure that the frosting is creamy and not hard and will melt in your mouth.
- An hour or two before making the buttercream frosting, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the frosting.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your cake will release easily from the pan.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least 1 hour so it will be firmer and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
Nutrition
Calories: 364kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 4gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 73mgSodium: 350mgPotassium: 102mgFiber: 2gSugar: 23gVitamin A: 588IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 58mgIron: 1mg
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