Dark Chocolate Cake with Mocha Mascarpone Frosting

It was my husband’s birthday last weekend and I baked this dark chocolate cake with mocha mascarpone frosting for him. I wanted to keep the cake simple yet rich. As I mentioned earlier I am not a great fan of heavy frosted cakes but since it was his birthday I wanted to make something special.

He loves anything which has a mocha flavor in it so I decided to make a mocha mascarpone frosting. The frosting was light with hint of mocha and the cake tasted really delicious. The dark chocolate cake with mocha mascarpone frosting was rich and moist and layered with mocha mascarpone frosting. We both loved it.

Dark Chocolate Cake with Mocha Mascarpone frosting

Inspired from passionateaboutbaking.

Recipe: makes one 6 inch cake

For the cake

1 cup of all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa
3/4 cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter melted
¾ cup dark chocolate
3 eggs

For simple syrup

½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water

For the mocha mascarpone frosting

8 ounce pack of mascarpone cheese
4 tablespoon of coffee
4 ounce of dark chocolate
1 ½ cup of heavy whipping cream
4-6 tablespoon granulated sugar

Dark chocolate cake:

Frist preheat the oven to 350F and line and grease a 6 inch baking tin.

Now sift the flour and cocoa and set aside. Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave for 90 seconds, stirring in between. Let it cool down a bit. Beat the eggs and the sugar in a double boiler until it doubles in volume and becomes mousse like. Remove from heat and continue to beat until it is cool. Now fold in the flour mixture gently till well incorporated. Next quickly fold in the melted butter and chocolate mixture and pour into the prepared baking tin. Bake for 35-40 minutes or a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cake on a cooling rack and cut into two slices.

Simple syrup:

Add the sugar and water in a saucepan and over low heat stir the mixture till the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool.

Mocha Mascarpone frosting:

Steep the coffee in hot water. Allow it to cool. Melt the chocolate in the microwave oven for sixty to ninety seconds. Cool and reserve.

Beat the heavy whipping cream with sugar until stiff peaks form. Beat the mascarpone cheese lightly and mix in the coffee and melted chocolate. Mix well Now fold in the mascarpone mocha mixture into the cream. Chill for thirty minutes.

Assemble:

On a cake platter place a layer of the cake and moisten it with simple syrup. Now add half of the frosting on it and place the second layer carefully. Moisten the next layer with simple syrup and add the remaining frosting. Chill the cake for six to eight hours.

Decorations:

Here I have used the store-bought chocolate curls but you can add chocolate shavings. For the chocolate border cut parchment paper border to fit around the cake. Melt chocolate and place in a zip lock bag and snip off a tiny bit from the corner. Make designs all over the parchment border and leave it to set. When just about to set, wrap it around the cake tightly pressing it with gentle hand. Keep in the fridge for fifteen to twenty minutes for the chocolate to harden and gently peel off the parchment.

Enjoy!