Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake (with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting) | My Cake School

Calling all chocolate and coffee lovers! This mocha chocolate chip cake is a wonderfully flavorful, tender cake recipe that is sure to become an instant favorite. This delicious recipe consists of moist mocha cake layers speckled with mini chocolate chips, brushed with espresso and frosted in a silky espresso cream cheese frosting.   How to Make Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake *You can find the full, printable recipe for Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps! Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting We wanted to use a coffee frosting to balance the chocolate in the recipe. This espresso cream cheese frosting is one of our favorites! It is very easy to make and is SO delicious.  You can whip this recipe up in no time as it consists of softened cream cheese, slightly softened butter, powdered sugar, espresso, and vanilla.  Cream cheese frostings are softer than most buttercream frosting recipes. If your frosting becomes a little too soft to work with, just pop it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes or so to return it to a thicker consistency.  Assembling the Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake Place the first cake layer on your cake plate or pedestal. Brush with the espresso mixture. This simple mixture of espresso, hot water and confectioners’ sugar gives a nice boost of coffee flavor to the cake recipe. Next, slather it with an even layer of luscious espresso cream cheese frosting. Repeat these steps for the next two layers. Then, frost the cake! Tips for Frosting the Cake Crumb Coating, Chilling, & Smoothing I like to crumb coat the outside of the cake with a thin layer of frosting and then chill in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes to firm things up before frosting the final coat of frosting. I think that it is much easier to frost the cake when it has been chilled, especially when working with softer frostings. After applying the second coat of espresso cream cheese frosting, I smoothed around the sides of the cake with a bench scraper to make it nice and smooth. You can warm up your metal bench scraper with very hot water to make it even smoother if you’d like! Decorating the Cake I made a spiral design on top of my cake using a small offset spatula. Starting at the top center of the cake, I applied slight pressure to the frosting with my spatula as I rotated it on a turntable. With each rotation, you’ll expand a bit further out until the spiral design is complete. I often create spirals on top of cakes because it is such an easy technique and so pretty too! Next, I added a border using a piping tip 21. I piped a combination of simple rosettes, stars, and shells.  We have more Coffee Flavored Cakes to Share! Love coffee flavored cakes? So do we! We’ve made several favorites over the years. Make sure to add these delicious cakes to your list! My Cake School Cake Tutorials and Recipes Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy the recipe. If you try our Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake, we would love for you to leave a comment below! Make sure to check out our full collection of favorite cake and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section! Also, if you are interested in learning more about cake decorating, make sure to visit our , including our . If you’d like to have full access to every cake tutorial we’ve made, you should consider becoming a member of our site! You can find all of the details here: Learn Cake Decorating with My Cake School!- Joining Info Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake (with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting) This moist Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting is soft, tender, and has amazing flavor! For the Mocha Chocolate Chip Layers For the Espresso Mixture (for brushing onto cake layers) For the Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting For the Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake LayersFor the Espresso Mixture For the Espresso Cream Cheese FrostingAssembling the CakePlace the first cake layer on your cake plate or pedestal. Brush the top of the cake layer with the espresso mixture. Then, spread with espresso cream cheese frosting. Repeat for the second layer and then the third. Frost the cake. I used a star tip 21 to create the border of rosettes and stars. BUTTERMILK SUBSTITUTENo Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: To a measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar. Add milk to the 1 1/4 mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use. The milk will take on a thickened appearance. © Melissa Diamond