Chocolate Coffee Cake

3.67 from 6 votes

This Chocolate Coffee Cake is a rich and velvety cake is also a flourless chocolate cake. Its packed with protein, decadent chocolate and coffee flavour and is naturally sweetened. It also stays moist for days thanks to the inclusion of olive oil.

chocolate coffee cake of serving platter

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Recipe Highlights

Its rich, soft and full of chocolate and coffee flavours
Easy to make all in one bowl
It’s a healthier style of chocolate cake that’s naturally sweetened
Simple to make for first time bakers
High Protein and Full of fibre to keep you fuller for longer
Satisfies those sugar cravings with just one slice
Its super moist and won’t dry out thanks to the olive oil
It goes perfect with your morning cuppa

I love making chocolate cake recipes and have made alot that I've shared here, all naturally sweetened of course. I think I have a bit of a chocolate cake addiction!

This cake is made with almond meal like this chocolate cake that is covered with luscious chocolate cream cheese frosting!

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Almond Meal: Almond meal provides lots of fibre and protein. Not to be confused with almond flour, almond meal is coarser and provides a beautiful texture without being too heavy.
Cocoa Powder: I use unsweetened cocoa powder as opposed to cooking chocolate powder from the baking aisle as this is generally very sweet.
Coffee: Any type of instant coffee will work. Alternatively you can use fresh espresso
Sweetener: I love using Lakanto Sweetener in my baking recipes. I used Lakanto golden for this one. Any type of granulated sweetener that measures like sugar would work. I’ve also used granulated stevia on many occasions and had succuss.
Maple Syrup: You can use either pure maple syrup or one of the many sugar free maple syrups available these days. Opting for a sugar free maple syrup would reduce the sugar content per slice to almost negligible.
Milk: any milk will work, dairy or non dairy. The milk helps to add moisture to the batter
Olive Oil: I love using extra virgin olive oil as it adds beautiful moistness to baked goods. Alternatively you could use vegetable oil, grapeseed oil or even coconut oil.
Vanilla Essence: provides an extra bit of flavour and helps to balance out the chocolate and coffee.
Eggs: 6 large are required for this recipe and it’s a lot of eggs I know. But this amount of eggs really works and helps to pack this cake full or protein and fibre. Eggs also help to provide structure to the cake helping to give it form and rise nicely in the oven.

How To Make

Preheat oven.
Mix wet ingredients: Add the oil, milk, maple syrup, eggs, sweetener and vanilla essence to a large mixing bowl and mix together with a whisk until well combined.

mixing eggs and milk in a bowl to make a batter

Add dry ingredients: Add cocoa powder, baking powder, coffee powder, and almond meal to wet mixture and use a spatula to mix the ingredients until combined and the batter is smooth and silky.

Mixing wet ingredients into dry ingredients in a bowl

Pour into baking tin and cook: Pour mixture into the baking tin and bake for 35 minutes at 160°C (325°F) Fan.

Let it cool before frosting: To test if cake is cooked in the centre, insert a cake skewer or toothpick and if it comes out mostly clean, it is cooked. Let cake sit in the tin for around 10 to 15 minutes before removing from tin, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely – make sure to keep covered with a tea towel whilst cooling.
Frosting: Add the ingredients to a bowl and whisk together.

whisking frosting ingredients together in a bowl

Recipe Tips

Cocoa Powder: If there are lumps in the Cocoa Powder press them out with the back of a spoon or your finger so they don’t clump in the cake.
Eggs: Room temperature eggs are better than eggs straight from the fridge because room temperature eggs will create more air in your cake batter, helping it to rise and give it lightness.
Cake tin: I used a 22cm/8 inch springform cake tin, lined with baking paper on the bottom, and spray oil on the sides. Using a spring form tin makes it easier to remove the cake from the tin.
Cooling Cake: Let cake cool in the tin for 20 mins before removing to a wire rack to cool completely
Frosting Cake: Make sure cake is completely cooled before frosting so it doesn’t run off

single slice of chocolate cake on a plate

Frosting Alternative

2 large Avocados
½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tablespoon Orange Juice
⅓ cup Plus 1 tablespoon Granulated Sweetener that measures like sugar

Blitz all ingredients in a blender until smooth and velvety and spread over a cooled cake.

Common Questions

How much coffee should I put into a Chocolate Cake?

Too much coffee may result in a bitterness, and too little and you won’t taste it. Making a concentrated coffee mixture works well using two teaspoons of instant coffee dissolved in hot water, or the same amount of espresso.

What does adding coffee to chocolate cake do?

The addition of coffee adds a richness and flavour to the chocolate cake. You can still taste the chocolate but there are background notes of coffee that complement the chocolate.

What can I use instead of coffee in chocolate cake?

Instead of using coffee, you can simply replace it with hot water, peanut butter, or even orange juice. Aim to use something that isn’t sweet as the cake already has enough sweetness.