Kahlua Crunch Cake—grab a spoon and let’s dig in. Chocolate cake is always something I gravitate to.
For this chocolate cake I decided to give it a Kahlúa profile based on the Black Russian Cocktail.
Summer is in full swing at our house, that means pool parties, beach days and family BBQ’s—lots of entertaining. With that, I’ve also paired up with Kahlúa for their Kahlúa Summer Shake-up campaign to share how I’m shaking up my entertaining-at-home tricks.
Now I’ll admit, while I love entertaining, I’ve only recently come around to actually hosting an event in my home. In my group of friends, I’m usually the one that will coordinate it at a pool, a park, someone else’s home—any place but my own.
That is until I’ve finally learned a few tricks to ease up the pressure on myself
- Food set-up: I don’t do formal sit downs, in the sense of passing around plates and platters. Nope. I set up a long table for food and then a dessert station and beverage bar. This way everyone moves around and interacts more, and people actually eat more since they can help themselves.
- Beverage bar: No way am I mixing drinks for a crowd of more than four. To keep it simple, I do two featured drinks with recipe cards prominently and stylishly displayed for guests to make their own.
- Dessert station: There’s always a mix of something like the featured cake in this post—a cut and serve—and something that guests can assemble to their taste, like this.
And as I mentioned, I’m just getting around to feeling fully at ease with entertaining in my home, so I would love to hear your entertaining tricks for how you shake things up while entertaining. Along with that, I’m hosting a giveaway with Kahlúa. So make sure to share your tips and tricks in the comment section below and you could win a summer picnic basket, which will include a cooler to keep all your cocktail fixings, a Kahlúa tumbler, a martini glass, and a cocktail card with all of their lead signature Kahlúa Summer cocktails.
Chocolate Kahlúa Cake
Ingredients
- Cake
- 5 oz. dark chocolate
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- ¾ buttermilk
- ¾ cup brewed coffee, cooled slightly
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1/3 cup Kahlúa
- ¾ cup hazelnuts, toasted
- Buttercream
- 6 oz. dark chocolate
- 1/3 cup Kahlúa
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 cup of butter, softened
Instructions
To make the cake
Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees and line the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans with parchment rounds.
- In a heat-proof bowl, microwave the chocolate on high power in 20-second intervals until melted; stir between intervals. Let cool slightly.
- Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl; set aside. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, coffee, Kahlúa and vanilla; set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and salt at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at time until fully incorporated. Turn mixer speed down to low, in 3 alternating batches beat in the dry ingredients and the wet mixture, scraping down the side down the bowl as needed. Fold in chocolate.
- Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out free of wet batter. Let the cake cool in pan for 20 minutes. Remove and transfer cake to a wire rack. Using a wooden skewer, poke holes in the cakes and brush Kahlua all over cakes.
To make the buttercream
- In a heat-proof bowl, microwave the chocolate on high power in 20-second intervals until melted; stir between intervals. Let cool slightly.
- Transfer chocolate to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and on medium speed beat in Kahlúa and heavy cream.
- Turn mixer speed to high and add butter in two tablespoons at a time and beat until the frosting is thick and creamy.
Assembly
- Transfer chocolate one cake layer to a serving platter or cake stand spread buttercream on top. Place second layer on top and spread frosting on top and sides of cake. Garnish as desired.
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