Kahlua Chocolate Strawberry Cake

slice of kahlua chocolate coffee cake with strawberry buttercream frosting

Kahlua Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Velvety Kahlua chocolate cake filled with juicy syrup from brown sugar and Kahlua liqueur. Indulge in this sweet strawberry coffee cake for Easter, Spring, Valentine's Day and more.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 42 minutes

Servings slices

Calories 700kcal

Author chunkyinkentucky

Equipment

3 9 inch cake pans

Ingredients

Cake

2½ cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1½ tsp baking powder
1½ tsp salt
1⅔ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
½ cup milk
½ cup kahlua
2 tbsp white vinegar
2½ tsp vanilla
1 cup cocoa
⅔ cup hot coffee

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar
½ cup water
⅓ cup Kahlua liqueur
¼ cup brown sugar

Buttercream Frosting

6½ cups powdered sugar
2 cups butter room temperature
1 tbsp strawberry extract
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
pink food coloring one drop at a time until color of choice

Instructions

Cake

Preheat the oven 350 F. Line the bottom of 3-9” cake pans with parchment and spray with baking spray.
Begin by whisking the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar and vegetable oil. Add in the eggs and whisk until well incorporated.
Next, whisk in the milk, kahlua, vinegar and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Add in the cocoa and stir to combine. Lastly, whisk in the hot coffee until the batter is smooth.
Evenly divide the cake batter into the prepared cake pans. Place the pans into the preheated oven to bake for 42 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with slightly moist crumbs. Once baked, remove from the oven and place the pans onto a cooling rack to cool while you make the simple syrup.

Simple Syrup

Add all of the simple syrup ingredients to a medium sized saucepan. Place the pan over medium heat. Whisk constantly while the sugar is melting. Once the sugar has melted and the mixture has begun to boil, reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes or until it has thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for just 10 minutes. The syrup must be warm for the cooled cakes to soak it in.
Once the cakes have cooled, carefully remove them from the pans and place them onto a large parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon about 3 Tbs of simple syrup onto each cake layer and spread to cover the surface. Reserve the remaining simple syrup for other recipes. Let the cakes stand for 30 minutes to soak up the simple syrup.

Frosting

To make the frosting, add all of the ingredients except the food coloring to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat together on medium high speed for 3 minutes or until a smooth and fluffy frosting has formed. Scrape the sides of the bowl down occasionally to ensure that all of the ingredients are incorporated. Add a dot of pink food coloring to the bowl and whip together until the frosting is evenly colored. Spoon 1 cup of frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip.

Assembly

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer onto a cake stand. Spread about ¾ c of frosting over the surface of the cake layer. Place a second layer of cake directly on top of the bottom layer. Spread another ¾ c of frosting onto the second layer. Place the last cake layer on top. Spread the remaining frosting onto the top and sides of the cake. Pipe swirls around the top edge of the cake in a circle. Slice and serve.

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