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This Kahlua Coffee Chocolate Layer Cake is made with a moist chocolate Kahlua cake covered in Kahlua coffee frosting! It’s seriously so good – you won’t want to share!
Table of Contents
Kahlua Coffee Chocolate Layer Cake
So this past weekend the hubs and I went and looked at some houses. We’ve been considering moving within the area for a while now, but haven’t found the right thing. We’d been looking around on our own and since we haven’t had any luck, we decided to try working with a real estate agent that the hubs knows.
Well we were out looking at some homes Sunday afternoon and it started getting a little late. We knew it could go later, so we brought everything for my evening progesterone shot (for our IVF treatment) with us just in case.
As luck would have it, 6 PM came rolling around and we got the privilege of not only doing our shot while out and about for the first time, but in a new house that was still under construction. We were looking at the house with our real estate agent and the sales person when we excused ourselves to shut ourselves into a room filled with nails, dust, wood and cardboard and try to give me a safe and sanitary shot in the rear/hip. A bit comical actually!
Fortunately the shot went well. 🙂 Our real estate agent knows about our IVF, so it was fine. But still not something you do everyday!
Something I would like to do everyday, however, is eat this cake. Oh my goodness, the flavors! I can’t even handle how good it all is together. You take a bite and your eyes basically roll back into your head because you just can’t deal any other way.
The chocolate cake is richly chocolatey and enhanced by coffee in the batter and 1/2 a cup of Kahlua. Plus, it’s pretty easy to put together. You don’t even need to bust out your mixer if you don’t want to. Just one bowl and a whisk will do the job!
The frosting is a variation of my buttercream with some Kahlua and espresso. Again, the flavor is perfection! And it’s also nice and straight forward to make. You’ve got your butter and shortening (you can always use butter to replace the shortening if you prefer – read why I use it in this post – Vanilla Buttercream Frosting) and powdered sugar first. They form the base of the frosting and to that you add the Kahlua and espresso. You’ll want to heat up the Kahlua a bit and then dissolve the espresso in it and use that to flavor the frosting and thin it out to the right frosting consistency.
Once you’ve got your cakes and frosting, whip the cake together and dig in as fast as you can! This cake is full of moisture, so soft and flavorful – it’s truly delicious! If you have any love for coffee, Kahlua and chocolate, it’s a must try!
Watch How To Make It
SHOP THE RECIPE
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Kahlua Coffee Chocolate Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes
- Total Time: 57 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Kahlua Coffee Chocolate Layer Cake is made with a moist chocolate Kahlua cake covered in Kahlua coffee frosting! It’s seriously so good – you won’t want to share!
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE KAHLUA CAKE
- 2 cups (260g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (85g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Kahlua
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (180ml) hot coffee
KAHLUA COFFEE FROSTING
- 7 tbsp (75ml) Kahlua
- 3 tbsp instant espresso powder
- 1 1/2 cups (336g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (236g) shortening
- 10 1/4 cups (1208g) powdered sugar
- Chocolate jimmie sprinkles
Instructions
1. Prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 300°F (148°C).
2. Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and combine.
3. Add the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, Kahlua and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Add the coffee to the cake batter and mix well. Batter will be very thin.
5. Divide the batter evenly between cake pans and bake for 32-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
6. Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
7. To make the frosting, heat the Kahlua until it just begins to boil, then add the espresso. Stir until dissolved.
8. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and shortening until smooth.
9. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
10. Add about half of the Kahlua mixture and mix until smooth.
11. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
12. Add additional Kahlua mixture until the frosting is the right consistency. If needed, refer to my tutorial on how to get the right frosting consistency.
13. To build the cake, cut the domes off the top of each cake so they are flat.
14. Put the first cake layer on a serving plate and top with 1 cup of frosting. Spread into an even layer.
15. Add the second layer of cake, another cup of frosting and then top the cake with the final layer of cake.
16. Frost the outside of the cake. Use my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake, if desired. Use an icing smoother/decorating comb tool like this one to add a pattern on the sides of the cake.
17. Press some sprinkles into the bottom of the sides of the cake.
18. Pipe some swirls around the top edge of the cake (I use Ateco icing tip #844) and add a few additional sprinkles, then serve.
19. Store the cake in an air tight container. Cake is best for 2-3 days.
Notes
If you’d like a non-alcoholic version of this cake, I’d suggest referring to this chocolate cake. It’s the one that was altered to make this cake and there are several changes that had to be made for the Kahlua cake. You can use regular cocoa and coffee instead of water, like is used in this cake. For the frosting, replace the Kahlua with water and add an additional tablespoon or two of espresso powder, depending on how strong of a coffee flavor you want.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 1089
- Sugar: 121 g
- Sodium: 528.9 mg
- Fat: 56.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 141.1 g
- Protein: 5.8 g
- Cholesterol: 94.1 mg
Enjoy!
Question about the icing. Does it mean use both butter and shortening or to use butter or shortening?
It’s using both. However, you could replace the shortening with additional butter and just use all butter.
Lately it seems many cake recipes use three 8 inch pans. I don’t want to go buy more pans ( I just don’t make enough cakes to warrant it) so is it possible to use two? Or two 9 inch? This looks good and was hoping to try it.
Yes, you could use two 8 inch pans or two 9 inch pans. The layers would be thicker with two 8 inch pans and would bake a little longer. They can also be a touch more dense. With 9 inch cake pans, it’ll be a shorter cake, but those two layers will be about the same height as the 3 layers of the 8 inch cake. The cake is just shorter, because there’s only 2 layers. Does that sense and help?
Can you substitute butter for vegetable oil?
You could try it. You’ll likely end up with a cake that’s a good bit more dense.
I’ve tried this recipe twice and I cannot get good lift from the cake. The first was the Pinterest version which did not have the right proportions. This version was a bit better but still much much flatter than I expected. I checked all my ingredients and they are correct and fresh but it just does not work well as a three layer cake.
Each layer should be about an inch tall.
And yes, Pinterest is known to have incorrect ingredients. You always want to click through to the website where the actual recipe is. Sorry it didn’t meet your expectations.