Chocolate Cappuccino Cake
On August 31, Daniel and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary! To commemorate with our siblings who also got married on Labor Day weekends, I hosted a joint party. (The cake I was planning to make would have been way too much for the two of us to eat alone!) In addition to the Homemade Fettuccine and Marinara recipe I posted last week, I made Savory Herb Swirl Bread, and a fresh garden salad. And to finish off the meal, of course I made this Chocolate Cappuccino Cake!
At our wedding reception, I made the mistake of cutting the top layer of cake. I totally forgot we were supposed to freeze it and and it made the most sense to cut the top. (Like who really cuts the bottom layer of a cake first anyway?) But of course we weren’t going to spend our anniversary without wedding cake, so I decided right away that I would make a whole new cake from scratch.
The Cake
For the cake recipe, I adapted the German Chocolate Cake from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. In addition to using an aquafaba egg substitute, I also added coffee instead of water and coffee extract in place of vanilla to really bring out the chocolate flavor.
One of my favorite aspects of this Chocolate Cappuccino Cake is that it’s a butter cake. Many cake recipes use oil for the fat, but creaming butter with sugar keeps it light and fluffy. Plus, butter tastes so much better than oil!
Like I said, for the egg substitution, I found that aquafaba works beautifully! The amount in this recipe (3/4 cup) is equivalent to four eggs. If eggs aren’t an issue and you don’t have garbanzo bean water on hand, just beat the eggs in one at time instead. Obviously I haven’t tried this, but it’s what the original recipe called for.
The Frosting
I chose to make a coffee frosting for this cake, but vanilla, chocolate, or peanut butter would all be delicious as well. Homemade frosting is incredibly simple and tastes SO MUCH BETTER than anything in a store. For this recipe, I used salted butter, powered sugar, coffee syrup, and coffee extract. Coffee syrup consists of two parts sugar to one part extra strength coffee. (By extra strength, I mean 3/4 cup of grounds to 1 cup of water–don’t try to drink it plain!). I always use decaf because of how strong it is. The recipe to make the syrup is from The Spruce Eats.
For coffee extract, I also make my own. Simply crush some decaf coffee beans and place them in a jar of vodka. Store the jar in a cool, dark place for 4-8 weeks and swirl it every couple of days. When it is ready, remove the beans and use as you would vanilla. If you don’t want to wait two months to try this Chocolate Cappuccino Cake, vanilla can be used instead.
Purity Coffee
Choosing the highest quality ingredients for Chocolate Cappuccino Cake is critical. That’s why in addition to using local, organic flour and fair trade chocolate, I always use Purity Coffee. It’s organic and free from mold and mycotoxins (unlike almost all conventional coffee). Then they package the whole beans in nitrogen flushed bags to prevent oxidation, keeping your coffee as fresh, delicious, and healthy as possible. If you want to give this amazing coffee a try, use promo code ROOTS10 to get 10% off your first order!
Cake Decorating Tools
As I continue making more cakes, I always seem to be acquiring new tools and supplies. I’d like to share with you my favorite tools that I use and find most helpful. The links I’m posting here are not affiliated–just personal recommendations.
By far, my favorite cake tool is my 6-inch Ateco offset spatula. It’s extremely cute and so handy for all sorts of things during the cake decorating process. Plus I can use it throughout my kitchen for other uses too.
To get the sides of my cake perfectly smooth, I use an Ateco icing smoother. I hold it at a 45 degree angle against the cake. As I rotate the cake on my Wilton turn table, the smoother does the work to even out the frosting.
I’m coming over for a slice
🙂
I agree with sheree!