A deliciously soft chocolate cake draped in ribbons of chocolate ganache, made from ingredients you likely have on hand.
Although my teenage son doesn’t have a huge sweet tooth like his sister, his love language can definitely be brownies or chocolate cake, so sometimes at the end of the week, I like to surprise him with something along the lines of this deliciousness. I was looking for a new recipe to make, and asked for tried-and-trues on a local cooking facebook page that I’m on. A friend responded with this recipe, which originally came from AllRecipes, along with the suggestion to sub the water for coffee. The original recipe has a heavier frosting recipe to go along with it, but since the cake is pretty moist and light, I wanted to keep the topping the same way, so I ended up making a chocolate ganache recipe instead. Most ganache recipes call for heavy cream, which I virtually never have on hand, so you’ll be happy to see that this one doesn’t … and it’s only TWO ingredients! The original recipe also is for a two layer cake, but I switched it to a bundt pan instead.
Both the cake and ganache recipes are crazy simple and the ingredients are likely ones that you have in your pantry already, which is my favorite type of recipe. Because, let’s be honest, who wants to head to the grocery store when you’re hankering for a chocolate fix? Instead, you can be whipping this one up and enjoying it an hour later.
Nick smelled it as soon as he walked in the door, grabbing a plate and a fork before even saying hello or putting down his backpack. Truth be told, chocolate cake barely lasts a few days in the house with him, because TEENAGE BOYS, so this is the perfect recipe to have in your rotation… for when you want to surprise your kid at the end of a school day, or satisfy your own sweet tooth. You can even dress it up for company, although it’s equally perfect with drips of chocolate ganache on a nice white cake plate.
However you slice and serve it, you’ll be coming back for more.
Mocha Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup coffee
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a bundt pan. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in the coffee. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.
Chocolate Ganache
1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk, or dark are ok)
3/4 cup milk
Put the chocolate and milk in a small saucepan and heat to medium. As the chocolate starts to melt, stir constantly. When it starts bubbling, lower the heat to simmer and continue to stir as it begins to thicken. Once it has become a thick, smooth sauce, it is ready to pour over the cake.
That looks amazing and makes me want to make a cake!