I woke up one morning hungry for cake! And not just any cake, but Mexican chocolate cake with pink frosting! Lol! Two of my favorite foods, Mexican chocolate and cake. The seven minute frosting is the same recipe that mom used on our cakes as kids.
You can say I have a thing for pink cake!
Since I was a little girl, I loved the color pink. Every year for my birthday mom would ask me what color frosting would I like on my cake? Pink! A few years back I decided that for my birthday/anniversary, I would challenge myself to bake a cake from scratch. The challenge was to incorporate the pink color somewhere on the cake. I have fun with it every year.
Round cake or square cake?
Does it really matter? No! Lol! Life is too short to not enjoy a piece of homemade cake. It is fun to use different cake pans from time to time.
More pink delicious treats!
Pink Polovorones, Cortadillos Mexicanos, Conchas and Tamales come to minds when I think of pink Mexican foods that I love!
Mexican Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 6 oz of Mexican chocolate(ibarra or abuelita brand), ground into a fine powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 3-4 tablespoons strong coffee previously brewed
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour or all purpose flour with 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup milk at room temperature
For Frosting
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 large orange
- pink food coloring gel
- 13×9 pan
- baking spray
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- If you have a mini chopper or coffee grinder, you can add small pieces of the Mexican chocolate to grind into a fine powder ahead of time.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the baking pan and set aside.
- In the stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, ground Mexican chocolate, baking powder, salt, coffee and vanilla at medium speed for about 3 minutes.
- Add in 2 eggs at a time, beating well after each time. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together into a bowl.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the stand mixer and beat well. Pour in all of the milk and mix well. It will appear to look curdled, but it’s normal. Beat in the remaining flour and mix just until incorporated. Don’t over mix.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 40-45 minutes or until knife comes out clean from center of the cake. Let cake cool completely before you add frosting.
- For Frosting: In a medium glass bowl, combine 3/4 c sugar, 1/4 c water, 1 tbsp honey and 3 large egg whites.
- Place the bowl over a sauce pan of simmering water. Whisk now and then. Cook until the mixture reads 160 degrees F. Remove from heat.
- Using a hand held electric mixer, beat the mixture until it becomes thick and glossy. Mix in the vanilla, orange zest and desired food coloring gel. Frost cake! Add some fun and colorful sprinkles!
Chocolate cake looks delicious! I don’t have a stand mixer, only a hand mixer. Will that be an issue?
Hi Ana, a hand mixer works just fine too!
Thank you so much Sonia! Looking forward to baking this delicious looking cake.
I dont have honey what could I replace it with
Corn syrup, agave nectar, maple syrup or make your own syrup by cooking 1 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of water.
Do you use already brewed coffee or does the recipe just call for the ground or instant coffee?
You can use either, as long as it’s in liquid form.
Few questions….
The Mexican chocolate just needs to be grounded? Maybe in a chopper?
Coffee… does it need to be ground coffee or already brewed??
In step #4 it says to add 2 eggs at a time, how many eggs are needed? I did not see that in the ingredients, just the egg whites for the frosting.
Hi Aidé, thank you for pointing out those things to me in the recipe. I read and re-read everything at least 5 times, yet it still escapes me, lol! I have made the revisions on the recipe. Thanks again!
Hello again! I asked about the eggs in the cake, your recipe you sent me has eggs, but the one I received in my email, does not show eggs in the cake part of the recipe, only in the frosting part. That confused me.
Thank You!
Susie, It’s just because I forgot to list them in the original post that I published. I added them and edited the recipe.
Hi I baked this cake this past weekend and it was very delicious but turned out dry. I only baked it for 30 min and still dry. Any tips?
Hi Amanda,
You could whisk in some melted butter that cooled, applesauce unsweetened or mayonnaise. These are alternatives to using oil. I actually may try the banana next time I prepare this recipe. Try adding 3/4 cup to the batter.