Mocha Cake with Fluffy Meringue Topping
Photo: Raymond Hom; Styling: Pamela Duncan Silver
A luscious cake perfect for wowing a crowd.
Since 2006, readers have professed their love for contest winner Anna Ginsberg's One-Bowl Chocolate Mocha Cream Cake, touting it as the moistest cake ever. We agree--the cake is incredible. But online reviews suggested that the topping could use some tweaking. Instead of the original "mocha cream" of whipped topping, marshmallow creme, and coffee, we now have a creamy, less-sweet meringue. We also replaced reduced-fat mayonnaise (yes, mayo--it's the secret ingredient that makes for a fantastically moist cake) with canola mayo, our current product of choice.
How to Make It
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°.
Step 2
To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through 1/2 teaspoon salt) in a large bowl. Add mayonnaise and oil; beat with a mixer at low speed until well blended. Slowly add brewed coffee and vanilla; beat with a mixer at low speed 1 minute or until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips; pour batter into a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Step 3
To prepare meringue, combine 9 tablespoons sugar and next 3 ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Cook over simmering water 2 minutes or until candy thermometer registers 150°, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat. Beat egg mixture with a mixer at medium speed until soft peaks form; beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over cake. Store cake, loosely covered, in refrigerator. Drizzle each serving with 1 teaspoon chocolate syrup.
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daneanp's Review
Really good and easy to make, though I didn't bother with the meringue. Instead I used a bit of whipped topping with the syrup as our family isn't big on meringue. They couldn't believe it had mayo in it!
Gettinthere46's Review
Really good cake, moist, very chocolatey. My kids devoured it. I used Kraft Mayo with olive oil and it turned out fine. If you didn't want to mess with the topping you could just put a dollop of light whipped cream on top.
KathRS's Review
The pros: cake tasted good
The cons: the top of the "cake" (was more like a brownie) separated from the rest, it sunk, the meringue didn't work at all (I halved the recipe, I don't know if that makes a difference...), and the chocolate chips all seemed to sink to the bottom
London1's Review
This was a very moist, tasty cake. I didn't make the fluffy topping and it was still excellent.
Kvavava's Review
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SandieBakes's Review
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Litha's review