Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake

[BakerAunt]

Cwcdesign told us back in the August 7, 2016 "What Did You Bake" thread about a wonderful cake she had baked: Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake. I immediately wanted to try it but have had to wait for an occasion when my husband and I would not be eating the entire cake. At the office, they are focused almost solely on my lemon cake, but I put the Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake into the running today, and the birthday gal chose it! I'll be baking it for a birthday party next Wednesday.

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[luvpyrpom]

The cake sounds yummy. Do you remember if the recipe is posted here, BakerAunt? Keep us updated.

[cwcdesign]

Luvpyrpom, here's the link (it was also posted in the thread Baker Aunt mentioned)
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014217-mocha-chocolate-chip-cake

You might also want to read that thread - we had a good discussion about turbinado sugar.

BakerAunt, referring back to that discussion, my new baking powder is doing wonders in my baking. That goes along way to explaining the problem I had with that cake and the chocolate layer cake before it.

I hope the cake is a big hit!

[luvpyrpom]

Thanks, Cwcdesign, for the recipe link. I definitely will reread the turbinado sugar thread. I really like using that sugar as a topping for my quick breads/muffins to give them a nice crunchy topping. I'm glad that the baking powder has been so successful for you.

[BakerAunt]

I bought the Sugar in the Raw at Walmart, as it was the cheapest option ($3.24 for 2 pounds). I also decided that I will use mini-chocolate chips to decorate the top, but stay with regular chocolate chips for the cake (all semisweet). My King Arthur espresso powder is not in good shape. I'm used to it drying out in my part of Texas, but I also took it to Indiana where there were some periods of sustained humidity. So, what I have is a kind of dampish clump. I will check to see if a store here carries instant espresso, but I may have to make do.

Cwcdesign--does the frosted cake do ok in the refrigerator? I will need to frost it Tuesday night for the birthday on Wednesday noon. Lately, I've been freezing cake layers, then frosting them frozen and refrigerating the finished product. Do people think that will work for this cake?

[cwcdesign]

I did not put nearly as many chocolate chips on the cake as in the photo. I just decorated with them. As for the espresso powder, I live in a very humid area. You can mash it with something heavy or put it in the food processor. The KAF powder doesn't clump nearly as badly as the Espresso powder from the supermarket.

I did put it in the fridge after I frosted it and after the frosting was hard, I wrapped it since we were eating it the next day as well. It was really good the first day, even though it was dense (which I still believe was the baking powder), so I don't think you should have a problem.

I just went back and reread your post. I'm thinking that freezing the layers before I frosted (I didn't) might have helped my cake. It was very easy to frost.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by cwcdesign.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Cwcdesign. That information is helpful.

I will stick with the KAF espresso powder. I will try pounding it into pieces, and see if I can measure it correctly that way. I worry that its gumminess might mess up my coffee grinder. I've tried using a piece of saran over the top before screwing on the lid, but that did not fix the problem. I will try putting the contents of my next jar into Tupperware and see if that works.

I found that freezing the layers (an idea I got from the Sift issue that dealt with cakes) really improved the result when I make a white chocolate cream cheese frosting for a chocolate cake. It keeps the crumbs from getting loose. Also, that frosting is always much too soft by the time I finish beating it, and I had to refrigerate it until it was cold, then beat it again. With the frozen layers, it spread smoothly, and the cake looked beautiful (without a crumb coat needed first!). I'll try the technique with this cake when I make it on Tuesday and report back.

I like your idea of just decorating with the chocolate chips. I think that the mini ones will be perfect for that.

[BakerAunt]

I just removed the two layers from the cake pan. From what I can tell, however, the chocolate chips appear to have sunk to the bottom. There was no evidence of them on the top side. The cake did come out of the pan without any issues, but I am cooling them on the rack with the bottom sides up, just as they came out of the pan. I used one cup of regular sized chocolate chips. In the picture with this recipe, the chips appear to be suspended in the batter.

I used the weight measurements (grams). I used AP flour and sifted it. The cakes did rise nicely in the USA pans. I noted that the one stick of my salted butter is a bit shy of the weight; I needed to add about 1/4 Tbs. more. I used whole milk.

The cake should be good even if the chips are all on the bottom!

[Mike Nolan]

Chocolate chips and raisins always seem to sink to the bottom for me, too.

Coating them with flour is supposed to help, I haven't tried it enough to say whether it does or not. (Not sure how you would coat chocolate chips with flour, anyway.)

[cwcdesign]

Interesting, my chips didn't sink to the bottom. I wonder if they will when I use proper baking powder 🙂 Glad to hear your layers rose. I used the grams as well

[BakerAunt]

Apparently they sank for a person who commented on the recipe page. That person told the site to specify parchment paper to line the bottom of the pans, since otherwise the chocolate chips would stick to the pan, making it hard to remove.

There may be something to be said for dense cake when it must support add-ins. 🙂

Update: I frosted the cake this evening. I had trouble with that caked KAF espresso powder. Even after I ground it in the coffee grinder, it wanted to clump, and that may have affected measuring it. The frosting has a slight bitter taste to it. I'm hoping that with the chocolate chips on the top, and in combination with the sweet cake with its chocolate chips, that the bitterness will mellow out. I decided to put the two bottoms next to each other, so it will look like I meant to have a chocolate layer in the center next to the frosting!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.

[cwcdesign]

The frosting is definitely not a really sweet one, it has that nice balance with the salted butter, I don't recall it being bitter, but I see how it could skew that way. Clever idea for the chips. I hope everyone enjoys it

[BakerAunt]

While no one gushed about the cake, I noticed that everyone finished off his or her piece, so that would be success.

If I have occasion to bake it again, I will either use mini-chocolate chips in the cake--and not a lot of them--or leave the chips out altogether. The cake is wonderfully light (probably too light to hold up the chips), and having the chips concentrated in one location messes up the slicing. I'm not sure the cake needs chocolate chips in it; this cake can stand on its own. I'd still decorate the top with mini-chocolate chips.

I would cut back a bit on the espresso powder, if I use KAF's powder, which I think may be more concentrated than instant expresso. The frosting did work well with the cake, so it balanced out, but I still thought the coffee needed to be toned down--and I'm a coffee devotee.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

The coffee flavor does mellow after a day. My husband, however, does not care for it. That is unsurprising, as he does not like coffee. He does like the cake, so I may see if some other frosting will go well with it. The cake is still tender and not dried out today. (I didn't refrigerate it once we cut it.)

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I've had a request from an office staff member to bake this cake again for her birthday. She REALLY liked the frosting. Her birthday is mid-February, so that gives me time to think about the sinking chips issue. This time, I will use mini-chocolate chips (half the amount) and dust them with a bit of the flour, I will use mini-chocolate chips as well to sprinkle on as decoration. I have a yet to be opened container of KAF espresso powder, so this time I'll be sure about its freshness (and it won't be clumped!).

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

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