Mocha Almond Cake With Espresso Buttercream

A delicious recipe for a rich, decadent Mocha Almond Cake with espresso whipped buttercream and toasted almond topping.

Things are a little crazy this week.

We are in the process of moving on from Thailand to Malaysia to spend the next few months there.

On Sunday we moved out of the house we had rented for the last 7 months and which somehow did become home for us in that time. We are taking lots of good memories, connected to this place, with us when we go.

It was a huge house, much bigger than we needed, but it allowed us to take in visitors. We were so happy when my sister-in-law and her friend stopped by on their backpacking trip through Asia. Then, my husband’s friend came for a visit on his way home from Australia.  It was nice to host company.

Even our friend who is teaching in Japan at the moment came to spend her vacation time with us in beautiful Krabi, Thailand.

There are also a few funny and crazy memories we will connect with this place. Like the fact, that we could count always on there not being any water the day we expected visitors.  This made cleaning and pretending ‘‘we’re neat people’’ a little difficult.

Or, the birds nesting in the roof of our deck. None of our attempts to clean the nest (no eggs) and dirt they created could discourage them from starting a new nest at the same place, every single time! Finally, we became friends with them and accepted that we had to sweep the deck almost every day.

But I don’t think any of these crazy moments can top this one:

My husband and I were in the kitchen, I was preparing some lunch while he was enjoying some fruit. I turned around to wash my hands, when I suddenly noticed a big, green snake (over 3 ft.) curled up on the blinds above the window where my husband was standing.

Immediately, goosebumps covered my entire body and I let out a massive scream. This was the first time I saw a live snake outside of a zoo. Luckily, growing up in South America, my hubby has had a lot more snake encounters than I do and with the help of my mop we got it out of the kitchen.

Later, we researched that this kind of snake is not aggressive and there are no reports of anyone dying from its bites. Still, I prefer not having it as a cooking companion in my kitchen.

To compensate for all the packing and to cope with trying to survive life in a guest house, we didn’t forget to soothe ourselves the best way there is: Thai massages….and cake, of course!

We had a wonderful Mocha Almond Cake at Easy Cafe in Krabi. For us coffee and chocolate is the perfect combination.

It was a decadent chocolate mocha cake, paired with a fluffy light espresso buttercream, topped with plenty of toasted almond slivers.

If you would like to create a similar cake, Jodi from More Sweets, has a great rich chocolate mocha cake recipe which can be made into a layer cake.

When I contacted her about the recipe, she also made a great suggestion to brush the still warm layers with additional Kahlua for a richer coffee taste. More coffee…? We definitely like that!

For the buttercream, the whipped espresso buttercream from Michelle, the Brown Eyed Baker will fit perfectly. The rich, dense cake calls for a light, cloud-like buttercream. The following recipe is for a filled two-layer cake (doubled the original recipe). If you also want to pipe decorations or make it a three-layer cake, multiply the buttercream recipe by 1.5.

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Recipe

Mocha Almond Cake Recipe

4.50 from 2 votes

A delicious recipe for a rich, decadent Mocha Almond Cake with espresso whipped buttercream and toasted almond topping.

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Cake

Servings 12 slices

Ingredients

  

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Chocolate Mocha Cake {Adapted from More Sweets, Please}

• 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
• ½ cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder or 1 ½ tablespoons instant coffee granules
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons Kahlua and additional Kahlua to brush on the cake layers - optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Espresso Whipped Buttercream {Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker}

• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 teaspoons espresso powder

Topping

• 1 cup almond slivers toasted

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Instructions

 

Cake

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease, line and flour 2 or 3 8" round cake pans.
• Melt butter in a bowl in the the microwave, add cocoa and hot water and mix together. In another bowl mix flour, sugar, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Blend in buttermilk, eggs, Kahlua, and vanilla extract.
• Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick/cake tester comes out clean (start checking at 20 min. when dividing into 3 pans). Leave layers in pans to cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and brush one side with additional Kahlua. Let cool completely.

Buttercream

• Mix vanilla and espresso powder together until dissolved. If required, heat mixture in microwave for a few seconds to help dissolve the powder.
• Whisk butter with the whisk attachment of your mixer for 5 minutes, scrape down sides. On low speed, add powdered sugar a little at a time. When all powdered sugar is incorporated, turn up speed and beat until fluffy for about 2 minutes. Add vanilla-espresso mixture and whip until incorporated.

Assembly

• Spread buttercream between the cake layers and on top and the sides. Sprinkle the top with toasted almonds. You can also pipe borders with remaining buttercream.

Keyword Mocha Almond Cake

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