Double Chocolate Mocha Crunch Cake
My birthday was last week, and what better way to celebrate than by baking a fabulous cake? This year’s birthday cake inspiration came in the form of my friend Andrew’s Double Chocolate Cake from his cookbook, You Get It Honest (a great book chock full of delicious Southern cooking). But of course I had to make a few additions because, well, that’s just what I do. The result is this Double Chocolate Mocha Crunch Cake. Let’s dig in.
A Case for Baking Your Own Birthday Cake
Some may think it’s weird or even sad to bake your own birthday cake, but I disagree. I mean, if you hate baking, then by all means, don’t bake your own cake. But if you love baking like I do, I highly recommend it.
First of all, I get to make any kind of cake I want. I’m not limited to what’s available at the bakery. That means I can get creative if I want to, like with this Chocolate Cake With Earl Grey Buttercream and Salted Caramel (2020’s birthday cake) or this Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake (2022’s cake – can you tell I love salted caramel?).
Or I can take a break from creating my own recipes and bake one from one of the many other bloggers I love following—like this Persian Love Cake (2021’s birthday cake) from Aroshaliny’s Lil Cupcake Monkey blog.
But do you know what’s even better than getting to bake whatever kind of cake I want? Getting to watch my friends enjoy the treat I put my heart and soul into baking. It’s the best birthday present ever.
Chocolate + Coffee = Magic
For this year’s cake, I wanted chocolate on chocolate, and the Double Chocolate Cake from Andrew’s cookbook was just the ticket. Since it already had coffee in the cake layers, I decided to amp up the mocha flavor with an espresso filling and a mocha crunch.
I LOVE chocolate and coffee together…I daresay it’s my favorite flavor combination. Not only do the two flavors taste great together, coffee enhances chocolate to make it even chocolatier (if that’s possible?). Truly, it’s a match made in heaven.
To add more coffee flavor to this cake, I added an espresso cream cheese filling, plus a layer of crunchy mocha cookie crumbles in the center and on top of the cake. The filling tastes like a creamy latte, and the crumbles taste a whole lot like Oreos (but better). Both are flavored with espresso powder, and are great additions to this already delicious cake, if I do say so myself. 😉
The Secret to Amazing Frosting
One element I didn’t make any changes to was the Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting. It is, hands down, the silkiest chocolate frosting I’ve ever had. Seriously…if you don’t get around to baking this whole cake, at least make the frosting. It’s so, so good.
Not only does it have a couple tablespoons of buttermilk in it—which makes just about everything better—but it also has cream cheese. Cream cheese frostings are by far my favorite, as the cream cheese adds a tanginess that cuts through the sweetness of all that sugar.
So that’s my secret to great frosting: if you want impossibly creamy, perfect frosting, add cream cheese. Okay, so maybe that’s not exactly a secret (cream cheese frosting is, after all, nothing new). Still, I stand by it: add cream cheese to all your frostings.
Tips for Your Best Double Chocolate Mocha Crunch Cake
Before we get to the recipe, a few helpful tips for making your best cake:
- Bring the butter, cream cheese, sour cream, and eggs to room temperature before mixing up your cake and frostings. If they’re too cold, you’ll end up with chunky frosting and a cake that doesn’t get as fluffy as it should.
- I only tested this recipe with Dutch cocoa powder. It should work fine with regular cocoa powder too, but I can’t say for sure. Also, Dutch cocoa provides a smoother, richer chocolate flavor that blends perfectly with the coffee. I highly recommend it in this recipe.
- For the cocoa powder and the 4oz of unsweetened chocolate, use good quality chocolate. I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa (I prefer Ghirardelli but Hershey’s is what my grocery store had) and Ghirardelli unsweetened chocolate. Any brand you typically like the taste of will work.
- For both the Espresso Cream Cheese Filling and the Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting, I recommend giving them a minute or so at high speed at the end of mixing to whip a little extra air into them so they’re light and fluffy.
- This one might be controversial: I used salted butter throughout this recipe (I know, I know…”real” bakers are supposed to use unsalted butter…but I like salted better). You can use unsalted, of course, but if you do, you may want to add an extra pinch of salt to the Mocha Crunch, Espresso Cream Cheese Filling, and Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting.
- Pro tip: You can bake the cake layers up to 2 days ahead of time. Once they’re completely cool, wrap them well in plastic wrap and refrigerate. You can make the Mocha Crunch a couple of days ahead as well. Just let it cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Ok, those are my best tips for this recipe. I hope you love it as much as I did. If you make it, let me know what you think in the comments below!
Double Chocolate Mocha Crunch Cake
Equipment
- 2 8" round cake pans
- 1 1/4 Sheet Pan
- Stand mixer with paddle and whisk attachments, or hand mixer
Ingredients
Double Chocolate Mocha Cake Layers
- 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
- 2 T Dutch cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 c granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 c vegetable oil
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 1/2 c sour cream, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 c strong brewed coffee, cold
Mocha Crunch
- 1/4 c + 2T all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 c granulated sugar
- 1/4 c + 2T Dutch cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder
- pinch kosher salt
- 3 T butter, melted
Espresso Cream Cheese Filling
- 1/2 c (1 stick/4 oz) butter, room temperature
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 1/2-2 tsp instant espresso powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 c powdered sugar
Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting
- 1/2 c (1 stick/4 oz) butter, room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/3 c Dutch cocoa powder
- 2 T buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 lb (3 1/2-4c) powdered sugar
Instructions
Double Chocolate Mocha Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour the bottom and sides of two 8" round cake pans or spray with baking spray. Line the bottoms with parchment paper, then grease and flour or spray the parchment.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat sugar, eggs, and vegetable oil until thick and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt chocolate in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring between, until it's mostly melted. Then stir until it's fully melted.
- With mixer at low speed, slowly pour melted chocolate into creamed sugar-egg-oil mixture. Scrape bowl. Then add the sour cream and vanilla extract, continuing to mix until incorporated.
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Then add 1/2 of the cold coffee, mixing until just combined. Repeat with another 1/3 flour mixture and the rest of the cold coffee. Then finish with the remainder of the flour mixture, mixing until fully incorporated.
- Divide batter between prepared cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Cool cakes in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours, before frosting.
Mocha Crunch
- Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a 1/4-sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Add flour, cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until fully combined.
- Add melted butter, mixing on low speed until the mixture starts to form clumps. Scrape the sides & bottom of the bowl to catch any lingering dry ingredients and fold them in.
- Pour the crumb mixture out onto the lined sheet pan. Spread the crumb out evenly. The biggest crumbs should be no bigger than ½-inch in diameter.
- Bake for about 20 minutes. Crumbs should contract a little to form individual boulder shapes when they’re done—if they haven’t yet, leave them in the oven for another minute or two. Allow to cool completely (it will get crunchy as it cools).
Espresso Cream Cheese Filling
- Beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add vanilla and espresso powder and mix until combined.
- Mixing on low speed, add powdered sugar a little at a time. Once all is added, beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 1 minute.
Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting
- Beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well combined and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add cocoa powder, mixing until incorporated. Then add buttermilk and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Mixing on low speed, add powdered sugar a little at a time. Once all is added, beat at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 30 seconds – 1 minute.
Putting it all together
- Place one layer of cake on your serving plate. Top with all of the Espresso Cream Cheese Filling, spreading to the edges of the cake. Sprinkle on half of the Mocha Crunch, pressing it gently into the filling with your hands.
- Top with the second layer of cake. Spread the Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake. If desired, use some of the frosting to pipe around the top and bottom edges of the cake. Sprinkle the rest of the Mocha Crunch on top.
- Chill the cake until frosting is set. Bring to room temperature before serving.Blow out your birthday candles, then slice, serve, and enjoy!
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