Skip to main content

Chocolate Kahlua Cake


***It's definitely not a birthday around this house without a scrumptious, homemade birthday cake! My sweet mom-in-law recently celebrated her birthday. Her request?...A cake with chocolate and coffee flavors reminiscent of the groom's cake at our wedding. I searched and searched, determined to find the perfect recipe. I hit the jack-pot with one of my Southern Living cookbooks. The cake was a tremendous success! The Kahlua adds the perfect little "something" to the cake, without being overpowering. The cake was so good, that I just made it again for Jessica's birthday.

When making this cake, or any other cake for that matter, a good tip is to always have all of your ingredients at room temperature before starting. This includes eggs, cream cheese, milk, etc.***


Chocolate Kahlua Cake
The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 cup Kahlua
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
2 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 3 squares!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup Kahlua
3/4 cup chopped hazelnuts or pecans, toasted and divided (I used pecans)
Chocolate Kahlua Frosting (below)
Garnish: chocolate-covered coffee beans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans; line with wax paper. Grease and flour wax paper. Set aside

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed 5 to 7 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add 1/4 cup Kahlua; beat until well blended.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix at low speed after each addition until blended. Stir in chocolate and vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans. Peel off wax paper. Drizzle layers evenly with 1/3 cup Kahlua. (I brushed the Kahlua onto the layers with a pastry brush.) Cool completely on wire racks.

Combine 1/2 cup hazelnuts or pecans and 1 cup Chocolate Kahlua Frosting; spread between layers. Spread remaining frosting on top and sides of cake. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup hazelnuts or pecans on top. Garnish, if desired. Store in fridge.

*************************************************


Chocolate Kahlua Frosting

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar, sifted and divided
3 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 cup Kahlua or strongly brewed coffee

Directions:
Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and chocolate; beat until smooth. Gradually add remaining powdered sugar and Kahlua, beating at low speed until spreading consistency.

Source: The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

Comments

Anonymous said…
WOW! That cake looks soooo moist and delicious! This is a must try for me!
Anonymous said…
Just to let you know... your recipe for kahlua cake has "1 teasp vanilla extract" in black letters... made it almost invisible to my old, tired eyes.....lol.... and this recipe looks FABULOUS!!
Anonymous said…
Salted butter?

Popular posts from this blog

Absolutely Sinful Cinnamon Rolls

***Alrighty, here are the cinnamon rolls that I mentioned in my previous post. I put these together on Christmas Eve, and then baked them on Christmas morning. Let me just tell you...there's nothing quite like the smell of yummy cinnamon rolls wafting through the house on Christmas morning...ahhhhh...so wonderful! This is going to be a new tradition for us...fresh, homemade rolls on Christmas. I thought that I might try this recipe, and then maybe try a new one next year...until I found one that I really loved. However, I hit the jackpot on the first try! This is THE recipe that I'll always use. UPDATE:   Since originally writing this post in 2008, I've  made these cinnamon rolls every year for Christmas!  They are a holiday tradition that my family looks forward to all year!  You can see my other posts here, with lots more photos of these sinful cinnamon rolls: CHRISTMAS 2009 CHIRSTMAS 2010 CHRISTMAS 2011 The great thing was that I could prepare them on Christmas

My Favorite Quiche!

***It's not often that a recipe is worthy of re-posting.  I think I've only done that once or twice in the entire time I've written this blog.  However, this is one of those rare occasions.  Back in 2009 when Brad and I went to Europe, we had the most amazing Quiche Lorraine at the incredible Les Deux Magots cafe in Paris.  It was delicious and was served alongside a yummy salad of fresh greens (Quiche Lorraine sur Salade Verte).  Oh, it was heaven on a plate!  It also didn't hurt that we were sitting on the patio of one of the most famous cafes in Paris, after all...haha.  The atmosphere and people-watching in that particular area are hard to beat. I'll never forget the elderly lady that was sitting at the table right next to us (the tables were situated pretty close together).  She was dressed to-the-nines, was all by herself, and was just the quintessential, classy Parisian lady.  I wish more than anything that I had tried to strike up a conversation with her

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread - Southern Living

***There seriously aren't very many things that smell better than Banana Nut Bread baking in the oven.   Don't you agree?  This recipe for Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread from Southern Living magazine was one of the very first recipes that I added to this blog...back in November 2007!  In fact, I came across it when I worked for the magazine as a Marketing Intern.  Back then, I didn't have a photo for every recipe, and the blog post was simply the recipe and nothing else.  Because this is my go-to recipe for Banana Nut Bread (and because it is so amazing!), I thought that it deserved a little more attention.  This is quite honestly some of the best Banana Nut Bread that I've ever had.  An entire 8oz. package of cream cheese is added right to the batter, along with 4 mashed bananas.  The cream cheese adds so much to this recipe, with an incredibly moist texture being the main component.  Plus, the roasted pecans are the perfect addition.  Roasting the nuts brings out