It's a super moist chocolate cake (a one-bowl recipe!) with a touch of cinnamon and spice for a little kick. It's spongy and fudgy, and stays that way for days, even if you refrigerate it. It can be made as a sheet or layer cake, cupcakes, or a bundt cake. The topping is a smooth cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and both parts can be made in advance.
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Chocolate cake with a kick
It could also be called Mexican hot chocolate cake, as it reminds me of the beverage.
If you're looking for a new 5 de Mayo recipe, this surely plays the part for dessert, especially baked as a single-layer cake because it's easier to cut and serve at a gathering.
It's not your average chocolate cake, as it's laced with cinnamon and a touch of cayenne pepper for a faintly spiced and spicy kick. topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting made with less powdered sugar, making it super creamy and unctuous. It's not meant to be piped but simply spread on top of the cake.
One bowl cake batter: simply dump ingredients into a large mixing bowl in the order given and beat until smooth and lump-free. Beyond easy to make.
I have our perennial favorite Mexican recipes, like the chocolate flan recipe and the very popular chicken casserole pastel Azteca. This unique chocolate-flavored cake is sure to join in the ranks!
Testing notes
Coffee: Prepared hot coffee is added at the end and deepens the flavor of the chocolate. You won't taste it. But if you don't want to use it, use hot water.
Adjust spiciness: I use cayenne pepper that's very strong, so use ⅛ teaspoon, maybe a smidge more. Use ground chile de Arbol, chili powder, or other red pepper spice to add heat to this cake. And adjust quantities to your palate.
Storage: the cake by itself can be kept for a week in the fridge or frozen for a month, well covered in both cases. The assembled cake lasts a week, covered in plastic wrap or an airtight container.
Cake sizes: this recipe makes a large bundt cake (10-inch or 10-12 cups pan), 18 or so cupcakes, 2 medium loaves, or three 8-inch layers. Adjust oven baking times.
Ingredients
Quantities are listed on the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
- Cocoa powder: always use unsweetened. In my experience, the dark ones are the best (this does not apply to the super dark used for making homemade Oreo cookies, known as dark or black cocoa powder).
- Spices: ground cinnamon and cayenne pepper (or another type of ground chile) give this cake a Mexican flair.
- Brown sugar: light or dark.
- Self-rising flour: it comes with baking powder.
- Baking soda: Make sure it's not expired.
- Milk: Use whole milk for a richer cake, but reduced-fat or almond milk can be used.
- Cream cheese: For a richer cake, use full-fat, regular cream cheese.
- Unsalted butter. If you want to use salted butter, go ahead. Omit the salt in the recipe.
Steps to make the cake batter
- Electric mixer: It comes together in a few minutes, so I recommend an electric handheld mixer. If you still want to use the stand mixer, do so with the paddle attachment.
One bowl recipe
This cake batter is super simple to make. Use a large bowl to combine the dry ingredients, followed by the wet ingredients (except the coffee).
Coffee or water
It's added at the end, and you can use hot water instead.
If using water, there's no issue letting it boil, but coffee should not. So heat it until it's *just about* to boil and pour it.
Thin batter
It's very liquid and thin, and that is fine. Make sure it's lump-free before pouring it into the pan. It will bake well and have a soft crumb.
The cinnamon frosting
Cream cheese frosting goes with everything. Well, almost.
- Cinnamon flavored: this is the moment to use your favorite, pungent ground cinnamon. I love this organic Vietnamese cinnamon. A dash of vanilla extract or paste and a pinch of salt are added to bring out the flavor.
- Room temperature ingredients: this is very important! Make sure the butter and cream cheese are soft and completely lump-free before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Frosting variations
Use a chocolate ganache (a favorite for chocolate cakes in general), laced with cinnamon or cinnamon whipped cream frosting (simply add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the heavy cream before beating). D
Dulce de leche, homemade or store-bought, can be used as a sauce to serve this spiced dark chocolate cake for a memorable dessert.
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Frosted Mexican Chocolate Cake (spicy cinnamon)
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 ¾ cups self-rising flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne, see Notes below
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup milk, at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup prepared coffee, or water
For the cream cheese frosting:
- ½ cup cream cheese, at room temperature
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Butter or spray an 8x11-inch baking pan.
- Line it with a piece of parchment paper if you want, covering the bottom of the pan and two long sides. The two short sides will remain unlined but greased. This will help you remove the cake from the pan.
For the chocolate cake:
- Combine sifted flour mixture (1 ¾ cups self-rising flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon baking soda) with sifted ¾ cup cocoa powder, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar,1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, and ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne (depending how spicy you want it) in a large mixing bowl.
- Add 2 eggs, ½ cup vegetable oil, 1 cup milk, and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, until smooth and no lumps remain.
- Heat 1 cup prepared coffee (or water) until it's about to boil and add to the chocolate batter in a thin stream, beating at low speed until completely incorporated and smooth.
- Pour thin batter into the prepared pan. It will be very thin.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until the top springs and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cake cool completely on a wire rack. Make sure the sides of the cake are not stuck to the pan and remove it carefully, helping lift it with the parchment paper.
- Transfer to the serving plate after removing the paper.
- Spread cinnamon frosting on top (I use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon) and sprinkle with chopped chocolate (or mini chocolate chips)and ground cinnamon if you want to.
- Cut into squares and serve.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator, well covered.
For the cream cheese frosting:
- Beat ½ cup cream cheese in a medium bowl with the softened ¼ cup unsalted butter until very creamy and no lumps remain.
- Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar and beat until you have a thick, very creamy consistency, good enough to spread.
- Add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and Pinch salt. Beat again until completely incorporated and smooth.
- It keeps well in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Beat again before using to attain a creamy consistency.
Krysta says
The cake itself was most and delicious but I added the maximum measurements of the cayenne powder but no one got any heat notes from it which was disappointing but the cake and icing was amazing! Will definitely make again but double the heat. Thanks!!
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Krysta! Spiciness can differ so much depending on the brand or country, and also, you’re likely used to more heat than I am, so that’s probably the reason why it wasn’t enough for you.