High Altitude Mexican Chocolate Cake
The best chocolate cake, subtly spiced with cinnamon, allspice and chili powder, with fluffy cinnamon buttercream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment
- 8-inch cake pans (x3)
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened, Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- 2 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder, optional
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp milk, only if needed
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray. If making half the recipe, use three 6-inch cake pans.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk until combined, about 15 seconds.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack for about 22-28 minutes, until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pans on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and cinnamon, mixing to combine.
- Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium (#4-6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer); whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down occasionally, and only adding the milk if needed for desired consistency.Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 2 minutes to eliminate big air bubbles.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Place one cake layer on a cake board, and frost with a layer of buttercream. Repeat stacking and filling the cake layers, then frost all over with a thin "crumb coat" of buttercream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat. Keep the bowl of remaining buttercream covered. Frost all over with a final, smooth layer of buttercream. Chill the cake again, for 30 minutes, if adding the decorative piped buttercream.
Decorating
- Today's recipe makes enough cinnamon buttercream for decorating your Mexican chocolate cake with the most beautiful piped design. You only need to be able to pipe a simple "shell" with tip 1M for this pretty cake.
- Make sure that you've chilled your frosted cake for at least 30 minutes, before adding the piping.
- Fit a disposable 16 inch piping bag with tip 1M and fill half full with buttercream. You can refill the bag as needed.
- Pipe vertical rows of shells down the side of the cake, about 10-12 rows, depending on how much space you want between them. Then finish by piping a shell border around the bottom and top edge of the cake.
Notes
Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier for 3 days.
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