Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream
Rich, decadent, light and airy chocolate chiffon cake layered with a melt in your mouth Kahlua buttercream frosting. Perfect to use as a celebration cake or when you need a chocolate treat that's not too dense and heavy. This oil-based batter with must less fat than traditional cakes is perfect when you need a light pick me up chocolate dessert.
A classic chocolate chiffon cake is a light and airy cake between a butter cake and a light sponge cake. Can be quite tricky to make because of a large number of eggs and oil-based batter but here are a few tips and tricks on how to take this old classic to the next level.
Have you seen a Chiffon fabric? Light and airy? Well, that's what this cake is supposed to be - light and airy!! The most important difference in a Chiffon Cake is that it uses oil instead of butter, and the eggs whites are whipped up making the cake rise up high.
Most Chiffon cakes are usually baked in Bundt pans but as a cake decorator, I always bake them in regular cake pans and decorate them layered with fillings and frosting. You can even cover this cake with fondant but mostly as a single-tier or the topmost of a tiered cake. I have used this Chocolate Chiffon Cake as a top layer of a three-tier cake.
How do you get rich, dark, texture and moist chocolate layers
If you notice my cake is a bit darker than most chocolate chiffon cakes out there. That's because of two reasons. One is I use a tad more cocoa powder in mine as compared to the traditional recipes. Personally, I'm a big fan of dark chocolate so I'm more drawn to the darker shades of chocolate cakes. Second is that unlike the traditional method of mixing cocoa powder with flour I make a cocoa paste. The hot water deepens the color of the cocoa powder.
For the moisture, I always add simple syrup to my cakes when I fill and frost them. Simple syrup is just sugar and water boiled together until sugar is melted. Cool it completely before you brush on the cake. Because a chiffon cake gets it light and airy texture from eggs it also tends to dry out very easily. So adding a little extra syrup to the layers is never a bad idea.
How to bake the perfect chiffon cake?
There is a reason why a chiffon cake is baked in a bundt pan or a ring pan. The cake is a light and airy batter with lots of egg whites which means the cake will rise high. The outside cooks faster than the center and often the edges dry out while the center is cooking. Which makes the bundt or the ring cake perfect for a Chiffon cake. But what if you are a cake decorator like me and need to bake two layers like this?
This is what I use. A flower nail. This really looks simple but all it does is distributed the heat evenly. So now the cake cooks from the center out. This is great to use with not just a chiffon cake. I use it for almost all my big cakes from 10-inches and above.
These are called cake heating core. Perfect to use with most cakes.
Kahlua Chocolate Chiffon Cake? (Save/Pin )
Did I get your attention? Yeah; I know right? Wanna take this classic chocolate chiffon cake to the next level? There are three ways to do this. You can use one, two or all three options and you'll be in absolute Kahlua heaven.
- Make it a Kahlua chocolate chiffon cake by simply adding two tablespoons Kahula in the recipe. Add it to the egg yolk batter just before you fold in the whipped egg whites.
- You can also add two tablespoons of Kahlua to the simple syrup when you brush the layers for extra moisture.
- And of course, I've given you the recipe for Kahlua buttercream below as well.
Let's Talk Ingredients and Substitutes(Save/Pin)
- Cocoa Powder - I always use good quality dutch processed cocoa for all my cakes.
- Milk - Not all traditional chiffon cakes usually have milk but I do believe it makes a huge difference both in texture and moisture.
- Eggs - Yes, lots of eggs - I know! but they are what keeps this cake light and airy. Be careful when you fold the whipped eggs into the batter. You want to keep them whipped so the cake rises, tall and proud.
- All-Purpose Flour - I use to make this cake with cake flour but over the year of trial and testing I have come to this balance of all-purpose flour. Mostly because I have many of you say - we do not get cake flour what can we substitute - So here you go Chocolate Chiffon cake with All-purpose flour.
- Cream of Tartar - This helps with whipping those egg whites to nice stiff peaks. If you can't find the cream of tartar just a pinch of salt and ½ tsp of lemon juice will work too! No, you do not taste the lemon in the cake at all.
- Kahlua - I love Kahlua and Irish cream. Both of these would work just as well. If you can't use alcohol, substitute the alcohol for whipping cream.
Useful Tips and Tools
- If you bake often, it would be a good idea to invest in a cake mixer. Because often we try to mix by hand and then we are too tired to give it enough creaming or mixing. So, if you are making this cake go head and remove that K-Mix or Kitchen Aid from your kitchen cabinet.You don't have to buy an expensive stand mixer, a simple hand mixer works great too.
- Having said that, a simple Bowl, whisk and Spatula with a little extra effort will do the trick too.
- Personally, I believe in weighing ingredients by weight, which makes my kitchen scaleone of the most valuable items when baking.
- The same goes for mymeasuring cups and measuring spoons. It's always a good idea to have these handy and use them when baking rather than trying to guess measurements.
- I think one set of baking pans is a must for anyone a home baker. Personally, I like to bake three layers rather than torte my cakes and it bakes faster too. For most of my layer cake recipes on this blog I use 3 x 6-inch round pans or 2 x 8-inch round pans.
- Once baked always invert your cakes on a cooling rack. This encourages air circulation and prevents the steam from pooling at the bottom of the pan.
- Every oven works differently. So the baking times are just guidelines. In the case of cakes, a skewer inserted in the center is a great indication. If the cake bakes too quick or too slow compared to the time given it might be a good idea to check if your oven needs calibration. An oven thermometer is a great little gadget to help keep the oven temperature in check. All you need to do then is adjust the temperature accordingly
How to Make a Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream (Save/Pin)
Method
Prepare
- Preheat oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- Prepare 2 x 8 round pans for baking - grease, and line.
- Sift flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Pour boiling water into the cocoa powder and create a paste.
Cake Batter
- Cream half the sugar with egg yolks, until pale, light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla and the cocoa paste.
- Gradually add in the oil while mixing continuously.
- Lastly, add the flour mixture a little at a time.
- Set aside
Whisk egg whites
- In a clean, grease-free bowl, with a whisk attachment, whisk the eggs whites with cream of tartar.
- Whisk for a minute then gradually add in the remaining sugar.
- Continue to whisk until stiff peaks but still shiny.
Fold and bake
- Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared baking pans/Bunt pan/ring pan ( I used two 9 inch cake pans today)
- Bake on the center rack until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
The time will defer depending on the pan you use - about 60 to 70 minutes if baked in a single pan. Approx 25 to 30 minutes if baked in two separate pans. The time is just a guide bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean. - Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert on a cooling rack to cool further.
- Let cool completely before decorating.
Assemble
- Prepare Kahlua buttercream as described - recipe here.
- Cut the cake into two horizontally.
- Brush with simple syrup
- Spread a layer of buttercream on the bottom layer
- Place the second layer of cake
- Frost the two layers with a thin layer of buttercream. Chill for 10 minutes.
- Place the remaining buttercream in a piping bag with the star tip.
- Pipe straight lines from the bottom to the top all around the cake
- And Pipe swirls on the top.
Frequently asked questions
If properly stored, a chocolate fudge cake will last for 2 to 3 days at room temperature. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 or 6 days.
Yes. But without frosting it. Freeze it on a tray for a few hours then wrap well in cling/plastic wrap, followed by a parchment paper and then aluminum foil. Thaw wrapped in the fridge for 24 hours so the condensation will stay on the papers, not the cake
If you don’t want to make a layer cake like this,
You can make this into a sheet cake – a ‘Chocolate chiffon Sheet Cake’.
You can also pour the batter into a well-greased and dusted bundt pan for a ‘Chocolate Chiffon Bundt Cake’.
There are so many other choices for frosting. Such as:
Swiss or Italian Meringue Buttercream
French or German Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
I have over 30 plus frosting recipes on this blog. And I highly recommend checking them out.
Don't forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.
Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting
Print Pin RateDescription
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 cups (250 g) All-purpose flour
- ½ cup (43 g) Cocoa powder
- 1 ½ cup (300 g) White sugar
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- ½ cup (120 ml) Vegetable oil
- 7 Eggs separate
- ½ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Cream of tartar
- ½ cup (120 ml) Boiling water
Filling and Frosting
- ½ cup (120 ml) Simple Syrup
- 4 cups Kahlua Buttercream recipe here
Instructions
Prepare
- Preheat oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- Prepare 2x 8-inch round pans for baking - grease, and line.
- Sift flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Pour boiling water into the cocoa powder and create a paste.
- Separate the eggs - Yolks in a stand mixer - whites in a grease-free bowl
(make sure no egg yolks gets mixed with the whites as that will prevent the eggs from whipping to stiff peaks)
Cake Batter
- Cream half the sugar with egg yolks, until pale, light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla and the cocoa paste.
- Gradually add in the oil while mixing continuously.
- Lastly, add the flour mixture a little at a time.
- Set aside
Whisk egg whites
- In a clean, grease-free bowl, with a whisk attachment, whisk the eggs whites with cream of tartar.
- Whisk for a minute then gradually add in the remaining sugar.
- Continue to whisk until stiff peaks but still shiny.
Fold and bake
- Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared baking pans/Bunt pan/ring pan
( I used two 9 inch cake pans today) - Bake on the center rack until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- The time will defer depending on the pan you use -
About 60 to 70 minutes if baked in a single pan.
Approx 25 to 30 minutes if baked in two separate pans.
The time is just a guide bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean. - Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert on a cooling rack to cool further.
- Let cool completely before decorating.
Assemble
- Prepare Kahlua Buttercream as directed here
- Cut the cake into two horizontally.
- Brush with simple syrup (simple syrup is a mixture of water and sugar boiled together).
- Spread a layer of buttercream on the bottom layer
- Place the second layer of cake
- Frost the two layers with a thin layer of buttercream. Chill for 10 minutes.
- Place the remaining buttercream in a piping bag with the star tip.
- Pipe straight lines from the bottom to the top all around the cake
- And Pipe swirls on the top.
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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