Today’s baking is a Chocolate Espresso Cake for Christmas. Making it ahead of time will make Christmas day more manageable. Our Christmas morning with the kids takes us a long time, which we love. We let the kids play with each gift for a while before opening the next. It probably won’t be long before they are tearing through the gifts super fast so we are planning on enjoying the slow Christmas mornings as long as we can.
With Christmas morning being a long joyous event it doesn’t leave a lot of time for cooking Christmas dinner. Doing as much as possible ahead of time will allow us to relax more that day.
I may even freeze the cake to help it last longer, but have not decided yet. Although there are many chocolate baking books in our home the recipe I used is actually a cupcake recipe from About.com: Southern Food and the official name is Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes.
With Christmas morning being a long joyous event it doesn’t leave a lot of time for cooking Christmas dinner. Doing as much as possible ahead of time will allow us to relax more that day.
I may even freeze the cake to help it last longer, but have not decided yet. Although there are many chocolate baking books in our home the recipe I used is actually a cupcake recipe from About.com: Southern Food and the official name is Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes.
Here is the recipe:
Chocolate Espresso Cake
Ingredients
½ cup hot brewed espresso or you can use strong coffee
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 2/3 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease & flour (or use cocoa powder) cake pan to prevent cake from sticking. I like using cocoa powder instead of flour for chocolate cakes just for a nicer looking presentation. The white flour on chocolate cake doesn’t always look nice but tastes fine. You can also line cake pans with parchment paper if you want to take that extra step to ensure the cake comes out of the pan easily. Because I will be icing the entire cake I didn’t bother with the paper. If you are leaving the cake plain or lightly dusting with powdered sugar you may want to consider using the parchment paper.
Chocolate Espresso Cake
Ingredients
½ cup hot brewed espresso or you can use strong coffee
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 2/3 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Grease & flour (or use cocoa powder) cake pan to prevent cake from sticking. I like using cocoa powder instead of flour for chocolate cakes just for a nicer looking presentation. The white flour on chocolate cake doesn’t always look nice but tastes fine. You can also line cake pans with parchment paper if you want to take that extra step to ensure the cake comes out of the pan easily. Because I will be icing the entire cake I didn’t bother with the paper. If you are leaving the cake plain or lightly dusting with powdered sugar you may want to consider using the parchment paper.
In a bowl combine espresso, cocoa powder, and vanilla, and set aside to cool.
With a mixer combine butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time until well mixed.
Last Christmas I received a kitchen aid mixer from my husband’s family, thank you!! I love it and highly recommend it!
Using another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the mixer along with half the sour cream. Next add another 1/3 of flour and rest of sour cream. Finally mix in the rest of the flour mixture.
Add the chocolate espresso mixture and beat until well combined.
Using another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the mixer along with half the sour cream. Next add another 1/3 of flour and rest of sour cream. Finally mix in the rest of the flour mixture.
Add the chocolate espresso mixture and beat until well combined.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
Bake until toothpick comes out clean. I forgot to note the exact amount of time...whoops, but I think it took about 30 minutes.
Bake until toothpick comes out clean. I forgot to note the exact amount of time...whoops, but I think it took about 30 minutes.
Allow cake to cool completely before icing.
For our cake I used chocolate frosting with red and green accents.
Here is the finished result
While the cake was cooling we caught our son fork in hand pulling a chair up. If possible keep out of children’s reach or you may not make it to the icing stage. The look in his eye let us know that he did NOT care about the consequences of digging into the cooling cakes. I’m sure he was thinking it would be worth it!
Just 3 more sleeps till Christmas!
Are you baking today? If so, what are you making?
Just 3 more sleeps till Christmas!
Are you baking today? If so, what are you making?
