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Our Chocolate Cake Recipe has a Few Secret Ingredients from Mexico
The Most Magical Chocolate Cake
Every year, for the last 12 years, I have asked my husband, “What flavor do you want your cake this year?” Only to receive the same answer, “Chocolate!” Nothing wrong with loving chocolate over all the other flavors. He has become a noble judge with me experimenting, trying to find the best recipe and perfecting the best technique. Is a chocolate cake, you will think, but oh boy, chocolate lovers know very well their craft.
So here I am sharing what I learned about all those recipes I tried and adding what I think makes perfect. What is that? Mexican magic, of course! But also, cocoa and espresso from Mexico.
The cocoa from Mexico has strong flavors and rustic textures; it is very minimally processed while using high-quality beans and a low-tech method to burn beans into chocolate. It offers a surprising, rustic, explosion of flavors, just a different style from the European cocoa. When it comes to Mexican coffee, most of the beans grown in the mountains of Mexico have a nutty flavor and a pleasingly light body. Depending on the soil and conditions in which they are grown, the beans can also be the opposite with bright acidity and chocolaty overtones. These two make the perfect combination to bake the perfect chocolate cake - it is all Mexican magic!
Chocolate Cake
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups of sugar
¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of espresso powder
1 cup of milk
½ cup of vegetable oil (I use avocado oil)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of boiling water
Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare two 9’’ cake pans; make sure they are lightly greased or with a round paper match in the bottom. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the espresso powder to a large bowl and whisk. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla to all the dry ingredients and mix together on a medium speed and stop when they are well combined. Reduce the speed to the lowest and add the boiling water; be careful; mix well on a medium speed for about 3 min. Distribute the batter in the two pans as evenly as you can and bake for 30-35 min, always making the toothpick test. Once baked, remove it and make sure it is completely cool before you add the frosting.
Frosting
1 ½ cups of a soft and unsalted butter
1 cup of cocoa
3-4 cups of organic confectioner’s sugar
½ cup of milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
½ teaspoon of espresso powder
Add cocoa into a large bowl by using a flour sifter to make sure there are no lumps; cream together with the butter until well combined. Add sugar, one cup at the time, and milk, one spoon at the time, making sure it is well-mixed with every addition. Turn the mixer on high speed; add the vanilla extract and the espresso powder. If it looks a little dry, add a spoon of milk to make it softer. Enjoy!