Palo Alto Chocolate Cake with Coffee Frosting
Palo Alto Chocolate Cake is a 9 inch layer cake frosted with a very buttery coffee flavored frosting.
Servings 12
Ingredients
Custard Mixture
- 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg separated - white reserved
Creamed Mixture
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs separated -- whites reserved
Flour Mixture
- 2 cups sifted cake flour spoon lightly into your cup, don't pack or weigh out 7 ounces/200 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coffee Frosting
- 2 tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in about ¼ cup boiling water
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 230 grams
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans.
- In a saucepan, melt chocolate over low heat and add ½ cup of buttermilk. Whisk until mixture is smooth. Slowly add 1 cup of sugar and 1 egg yolk. Whisk constantly for 3 minutes or until the custard is thick and smooth. Let it cool.
- Cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Add the 2 egg yolks, one at a time. Resift cake flour with baking soda and salt. In 3 parts, add flour mixture and ¾ cup buttermilk, alternating between the two. Finally, stir the cooled custard and vanilla into the batter.
- Beat 3 egg whites until they are stiff but not dry. Fold into batter. Make sure they are well incorporated, or you will get white streaks in the baked cake. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cake just begins to leave the sides of pans. When cool, spread with frosting.
- Frosting:
- Dissolve the coffee in water and let cool. In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter and salt until creamy. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar, alternating with cooled coffee mixture. Beat and scrape until creamy and smooth.
Notes
This recipe doesn't make a lot of frosting so you may want to make 1 ½ times the amount if you like a lot of frosting. Also, feel free to adjust the level of coffee flavor to your taste. I usually use Folgers instant, but instant espresso powder is even better.
