BEST Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream

Name: Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 24 Servings
Ingredients: 225 grams All-purpose flour; 50 grams Cocoa powder; 300 grams White sugar; 1 tsp Baking soda; 1/2 tsp Baking powder; 120 ml Vegetable oil; 7 Eggs (separate); 1/2 tsp Salt; 1/4 tsp Cream of tartar; 120 ml Boiling water; 60 ml Simple Syrup; 4 cups Kahlua Buttercream (recipe here )

April 12, 2012 By Veena Azmanov 33 Comments

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.

This ultimate chocolate chiffon cake is layered with Kahlua buttercream frosting for a decadent rich chocolate celebration cake.

Ultimate Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe, Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

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.

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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.

Ultimate Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe, Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream

These are called cake heating core. Perfect to use with most cakes.

Ateco 1449 Cake Heating Core, Set of 4, New

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Wilton Bakeware Heating Core Distributes heat to bake large cakes evenly

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Heating Rod by Fat Daddio's

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Kahlua Chocolate Chiffon Cake? (Save/Pin Buttercream recipe here)

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.

Ultimate Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe, Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

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 1/2 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.

I think a Classic Chocolate Chiffon Cake is a light and airy cake between a butter and a light sponge cake. Can be quite tricky to make because of the large number of eggs and oil based batter but here's a few tips and tricks on how to take this old classic to the next level.

Ultimate Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe, Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

Recipe – Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Chocolate Buttercream (Save/Pin)

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

Ultimate Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe, Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

For the Cake

All-purpose flour- 225 grams (1 3/4 cups)
Cocoa powder – 60 grams ( 1/2 cup)
White sugar – 300 grams (1 1/2 cup)
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Baking powder – 1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil – 120 ml (1/2 cup)
Eggs separated – 7 large
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Cream of tartar – 1/4 tsp
Boiling water – 120 ml (1/2 cup)
Vanilla – 2 tsp

Filling and Frosting

Simple syrup – 60 ml (1/4 cup)- simple syrup is a mixture of water and sugar boiled together.
Kahlua Buttercream – 4 cups (recipe here)

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.

Ultimate Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe, Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

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.

10 tips on how to bake a cake from scratch with recipes included.

10 Tips to Successfully Baking a Cake from Scratch (Recipe included)

Learn how to bake a cake from scratch every single time with these 10 tips, step-by-step progress pictures, video tutorial, and more than 50 cake recipes. Understand cake ingredients and how they work before you can use them to get the best results with desired outcomes. This article is going to make you a better baker.

Don’t forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.

Ultimate Chocolate Chiffon Cake Recipe, Best Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

Author: Veena Azmanov

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.

5 from 18 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Buttercream, cake, Chiffon, chocolate, Kahlua

Adjust Servings Here: 24 Servings

Calories: 156kcal

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 1 hr

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins