When people find out that you have a food blog, they start making requests. Sometimes, the requests are things that I would not normally want to make or eat. I flipped through this recipe in the Thanksgiving issue of Sunset and did not look twice at it. A friend of my husband’s mentioned that he would love it if I made it for him, and since I love to make people’s baked good dreams come true, I happily obliged.
I read the recipe and thought that it had the potential to be absolutely amazing, or a complete bomb. I am happy to say that it is in fact amazing. The balsamic vinegar, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon are not at all overpowering and just bring out the deep, dark chocolate flavor of the cake. This cake also could not be any simpler to make. I made it by hand, and it took no time at all.
The recipe called for a cinnamon ice cream, but I had a transport problem. I did not want to make a homemade ice cream and have it not make it to its final destination frozen. So instead, I made a cinnamon mascrapone frosting to go on top. The frosting is rich and not overly sweet. It is the perfect compliment to the complex flavors in the cake.
This recipe makes 2 (8-inch) frosted cakes.
For the cake:
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
Put all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
It helps when you remember the flour. Duh.
Add all of the liquid ingredients.
Mix until smooth. How gorgeous is this batter? It is almost black. Yum.
Spray two 8-inch pans with cooking spray. Put a piece of parchment on the bottom of the pan and spray again. Here is the best tip I have ever learned. To get even and flat cakes, take two strips of old towel and dampen them. Wrap them around the outside of the cake pans. Your cakes will come out completely level. I did not believe it until I saw it for myself.
Pour the batter into the cake pans. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Turn them out and let cool completely.
For the frosting:
1 (8-ounce) tub of mascarpone cheese
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, whisk together the mascarpone, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and sugar. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cheese mixture.
Use half of the frosting and cover the top of your cake.
Sprinkle cinnamon on top for garnish.
This cake is moist, flavorful, and delicious. A perfect ending for a Mexican feast or something to bring to a Cinco de Mayo party.
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
- For the frosting:
- 1 (8-ounce) tub of mascarpone cheese
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups heavy cream
Instructions
- Put all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- It helps when you remember the flour. Duh.
- Add all of the liquid ingredients.
- Mix until smooth. How gorgeous is this batter? It is almost black. Yum.
- Spray two 8-inch pans with cooking spray. Put a piece of parchment on the bottom of the pan and spray again. Here is the best tip I have ever learned. To get even and flat cakes, take two strips of old towel and dampen them. Wrap them around the outside of the cake pans. Your cakes will come out completely level. I did not believe it until I saw it for myself.
- Pour the batter into the cake pans. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Turn them out and let cool completely.
- Make the frosting. Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, whisk together the mascarpone, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and sugar. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cheese mixture.
- Use half of the frosting and cover the top of your cake.
- Sprinkle cinnamon on top for garnish.
Goodness this looks sublime…chocolate and cayenne!? And mascarpone? Sounds strange but looks divine!
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This looks simply DIVINE! I’m going to try this ASAP! Thank you for the amazing recipe:)
you are welcome!
you are welcome Hanna!
I think I would love love love this! Rich & chocolatey, but not too sweet. The hint of cinnamon & cayenne sound amazing with chocolate & marscapone. Mmm….
I was shocked at how good this was. The frosting makes it. Not too sweet.
Hi,
I’ve been folowing your blog in my google reader for some time now. I must say I love it. All your recipes look so tasteful. Your photos are great, too.
This Mexican Chocolate cake is definetely on my list of recipes to try this year.
Thank you Maria!!
I could spend all day here on your blog!! Thanks for sharing on Wendy’s blog!!
thanks for checking me out!
Thanks for the encouragement on this recipe! I would seen the ingredients and kept going (if I am going to bake I want to give myself a good chance that it will be yummy!) but your comments have me reconsidering. I agree that baking for friends is the best!
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I would have passed over it too, but I am really glad that I didn’t.
Wow….It’s looking so yummy!! I can’t control water of my mouth.
I was shocked at how good it was.
I’m gonna have to try that tip for making cakes level! Thanks!
Tiffany @ Conor & Bella recently posted..The Joy of Vegan Baking- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
it is like magic!
Oh, wow– this looks so good. I love how dark the cake is and frosting looks sinfully good!
Kelley Epstein recently posted..Roasted Tomato Soup
this cake was a surprise. It was so delicious.
This looks so good. Hmmm, who can I make it for?
You!
Sounds & looks amazing!
thanks Jerri! It is.
That cake is absolutely gorgeous! We’d love if you could enter it into the Recipe4Living 5th Birthday Contest! You could win a huge gift basket full of Scharffen Berger gourmet chocolate!
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thanks Kathryn! Will do!
This looks so amazing! I’m with you, I saw this in the Sunset magazine and skimmed right by it, but the addition of the mascarpone takes it to a whole other level. I love mascarpone and have a really hard time passing by anything involving it.
the frosting is perfect with this cake, but honestly, this cake can stand on its own. It is rich and amazing.
I made this cake this week for my book club and it was awesome! The towels really do keep the cake flat, so I was glad I went out on a limb and tried it. If you only want one cake (because it makes a lot!), I recommend either cutting the recipe in half or making two and freezing the other. This cake is super moist and so easy to make. I am thinking the cake recipe it self is a great base for a cake and you could switch out spices as you wished. I’d really like to try it with Orange or lemon zest in stead of the pepper and cinnamon sometime. I think this would also work with the icing, adding the spices or flavorings that go best with your cake. Now one of my favorite recipes!
Isn’t that the coolest trick ever? I think that the next time I make it, I will save the other cake to make a trifle.
Thanks for the recipe. I made it for a Mexican themed dinner party and it was divine.
I love this cake, perfect for a Mexican dinner.
PS – found you on foodgawker.
Great cake! I teach Spanish and made this recipe for my Spanish students for today’s Cinco de Mayo celebration. They loved it!!!! I’ll make this again for our friends and family!
that is great! Thanks for letting me know.
Sounds really interesting! I think I’ll make it for a party tomorrow and then have the leftover one for Mother’s Day!!
Great idea! I love that cake I hope that you like it too.
I just made this cake and it turned out so good! I forgot the brown sugar though : /
glad that you like it Natalie!
I baked my cake for 40 mins and it was over baked.
I think 35 minutes would have been perfect.
I really like this cake. It’s deceivingly light cause of the frosting.
I didn’t use all of the whipped cream though. I used about 3/4 of it and it was just the right amount.
Make sure you use the darkest cocoa you can find. I just used the Hershey’s natural cocoa and it didn’t come out as dark as yours.
I don’t know if i’ll be making this again, i just had some mascarpone that had to be used up and this looked like the best recipe out there. Or maybe i’ll try using a darker cocoa. I’m glad i tried it though. It’s a nice tea time treat.
I love this cake, the frosting is perfect for it, and I love the flavors. I use expensive cocoa always, usually Guittard, it probably does make a difference in this recipe.
This was a total disaster. The batter tasted great and the cakes tasted good, but using 8.5 inch pans, they both spilled over in my oven.
It sounds like your pans were too small. How full did you fill them?
8.5 inch filled halfway, like I usually do.
Your pan is too small, use a 9 or 10 inch.
You used the 8-inch and it worked out?
I made it a long time ago, but I am sure that had leftover batter.
Do you think this recipe would work for cupcakes? Or is the cake too dense? Thanks!
I think that it would be a great cupcake. Give it a whirl.
New reader here…
Oh my GOD this was so good!!!!
This was the finishing touch to my first Mexican meal that I made to celebrate my husband’s birthday and it was absolute perfection. Probably the first time in six months I’ve been able to refrain from meddling with a recipe and I’m so glad I followed it to the letter ( although I’m so tempted to try adding orange zest next time). Definitely will be making again!
Welcome Jess! I am glad that you liked it. Orange zest would be good in this. Thanks for the idea.
Just made this FABULOUS cake recipe for my Day of the Dead dinner party – I made cupcakes instead of cakes. Thank you so much!
It works as a cupcake? Good to know!
I’m going to bake this next week for a Sint Nicholas party with my friends (Dutchies rock
) and I’m excited to try it. I think I will post some photos on my blog (which is in Dutch though) and let you now how it was!
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Please do!
I did not have to time make any photos but it was so delicious, I’ll be making it again soon, so I will do then. My friends liked it, my neighbours liked it and my family liked it
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I am so glad. I love this cake, different, but delicious.
Can this be used as a layer cake? Looking for something unique for a birthday and this one looks delicious. Thanks
Sure, just slice the cake into layers after it is baked, or bake it in two separate pans. You will have to alter the baking time.
I just made this (in the form of filled cupcakes), and while they taste good, the batter wasn’t the dark black…just kind of a standard chocolate brown. Can the type of cocoa effect the colour? I used Hershey’s…
Yes it can. I use a very high quality dark cocoa powder.
Made this cake yesterday. Frosting is amazing.
But can’t figure out why the cake was a bit “dry”. Not as moist as I thought it would be considering the oil.
Any suggestions?
Thanks much
My guess is that is was over baked. There should be a little crumb still on your toothpick when you take the cake out of the oven, it will continue to cook when it comes out.
Thank you so much.
Going to give this another try this week. I have to make a larger cake, so am going to double recipe and bake it in an 11 x 14 pan. Since your single recipe makes nice high layers in the 8in pans I think I’ll be able to get 2 nice layers out of the double recipe. Do you agree?
BTW I am new to your website, but I love it. Count me as another fan!!
you should. Welcome!
If I use dutch process cocoa in this recipe, should I leave out the baking soda? Will the balsamic vinegar be sufficient to act as the acid needed when replacing natural cocoa with Dutch Process?
Thanks for your help.
I really am not sure Jack, I didn’t use dutch process, so I cannot tell you for sure.
Made this yesterday for a birthday party. It was a huge hit and I will definitely make it again!
I am so glad Nicole. I love this cake, I like to make it for Cinco de Mayo.
I’m really interested in making this for a Mexican-themed party this weekend–it looks truly fantastic! I’ve never heard of Mascarpone cheese before, is it similar to cream cheese?
Sort of. It is in the fancy cheese section.
Sorry for this stupid question.
I am an engineer type…
When you say cup, you mean 2 dl=0.2 l? Or 0.25dl?
Sorry. Thank you.
Love your blog.
Marko.
I am not sure exactly, but this is what I found.
The volume of 1 cup = 16 tablespoons = 1/ pint = 0.2365882368 liters.
A deciliter (dL) is 1/10 or 0.1 of a liter.
So, 1 cup is 2.365882368 deciliters (volume).
Uau. Thank you so much. I am going to do it in a few minutes.
For my girlfriend, it’s 8. March.
Happy woman day Bree.
Marko.
thank you Marko!
Just to clarify, when you made this you ended up with two single layer cakes, each covered in 1/2 the frosting? Or did you stack the two cake layers, without frosting in between, and frost the top layer only.
Thanks!
I had two separate cakes, and split the frosting in half.
I just made this for our Cinco de Mayo themed Pinterest Party (I’d pinned it earlier) and it was divine! I didn’t use the high quality cocoa (a pity, but I just didn’t have it – will make a point to get it next time, because there WILL be a next time), but let me tell you – it was fabulous. Such a great cake. I’m planning on making it again next year, in lieu of a Tres Leche Cake, so I can show it off to more family and friends. Great recipe once again, Bree! You never let me down.
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I am so glad! This is a really good cake, I am glad that you liked it so much.