This Mexican chocolate cake recipe combines rich chocolate with cinnamon and just a little bit of cayenne! It pairs perfectly with an espresso frosting and chocolate ganache. This is a part of my six inch small cake recipes collection.
This is the best one bowl chocolate cake recipe I have ever tasted and so easy to make. Plus, it’s not huge, so you can make it even for yourself or your family. I basically took the idea of depression cake (or wacky cake) and added some cinnamon and cayenne spice to it.
Then I topped it off with my favorite espresso buttercream used on my chocolate stout cake. And of course, I added the ganache drip to make everything look pretty.
What’s depression cake?
It’s called depression cake because the recipe uses no eggs, butter or milk. During the Great Depression era, these ingredients were more expensive or hard to get. The “wacky” thing is that it still tastes so amazing even though it’s eggless and has no butter!!
Is it the best chocolate cake?
Well, everyone knows that butter makes it better. If you want a true chocolate cake, you need to visit my recipe for “the best chocolate cake”.
This cake recipe is still insane though and I have not been able to stop thinking about it after it was all gone. That combination of chocolate, spices and espresso flavor is to die for!
Ingredients for Mexican Chocolate Cake
All you need are these very basic pantry ingredients…
- All purpose flour
- Sugar
- Unsweetened Dutch Process cocoa powder
- Cinnamon powder
- Cayenne powder
- Salt
- baking soda
- Water
- Canola oil
- Vinegar
- Vanilla extract
How to Make One Bowl Mexican Chocolate Cake
Start by whisking together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon. cayenne and salt. Then add ALL the remaining ingredients and beat until incorporated and smooth.
Divide the batter into two 6 inch cake pans and bake! That’s it. No fancy ingredients or methods.
Options for Making this Cake
- Without the espresso frosting, this cake is vegan and allergy friendly for those with dairy or egg allergies. (You can always substitute a vegan frosting over the one that I used or just use a simple sugar glaze.)
- You can use black coffee in place of water to enhance the chocolate taste.
- Replace ½ of the cocoa powder with dark cocoa powder to create a richer darker cake. (This is what I did in these photos.)
- Adjust the amounts of cinnamon and cayenne to your liking.
- Try chocolate fudge frosting or cream cheese frosting if you don’t want a mocha chocolate cake flavor.
More Mexican Desserts To Try
Mexican Chocolate Cake
This Mexican chocolate cake recipe combines rich chocolate with cinnamon and just a little bit of cayenne! It pairs perfectly with an espresso frosting and chocolate ganache. This is a part of my small cake recipes collection.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch Process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 Tablespoon vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Espresso Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 4 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Ganache Drip
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
For the Cake Layers
- Grease two six inch round cake pans with butter or spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl sift or whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt. Make sure there are no clumps of cocoa powder.
- Add the oil, vinegar, water, and vanilla extract.
- Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the batter until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes in the pan
- Release the cakes onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely.
For the Frosting:
- Cream the butter until light and fluffy using a paddle attachment.
- Add a pinch of salt and gradually add in the sugar while mixing. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once while mixing.
- Dissolve the espresso powder in a tablespoon or two of water and add it to the mixture along with the vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Adjust the consistency of your frosting by either adding more sugar or milk in a tablespoon at a time.
For the Ganache Drip
- Heat the cream to just boiling.
- In a small bowl pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and gently stir until it comes together. Let it cool slightly.
- You can pour enough ganache over the top of a chilled frosted cake and let it drip naturally over the sides. Alternatively, pour a small amount of ganache on top of the cake and then pour the ganache into a squeeze bottle. Squeeze the ganache around the edges of the cake to finish covering it and allow for better control of the drips.
Notes
I replaced a ¼ cup of the Dutch Process cocoa powder with black cocoa powder to get a darker color and deeper taste.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 631Total Fat: 40gSaturated Fat: 21gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 62mgCarbohydrates: 67gFiber: 3gSugar: 47gProtein: 4g
This nutrition information is only an approximate provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. Information comes from Nutritionix, an automated nutrition calculator.
Barbara Smith says
If you’re expecting to make a big cake with two pans you best double or triple the recipe, This look like a giant Oreo cookie after we made it into cake pans.
Urvashee says
Hi Barbara,
I'm sorry if it didn't work out as expected. As I mentioned in the post, this recipe is meant to be a small cake made in 6 inch cake pans. For a larger cake, the recipe can easily be doubled to use 8 or 9 inch pans.
Gina says
Hi Urvashee 😊
I’ve made the recipe and it is outstanding,
! I love making 6 inch cakes, with this recipe I made two batches of it and made a 3 layer 6 inch and it turned out beautifully, plus I love the fact that there isn’t any eggs in the recipe because I’m not fond of them anyway. Keep up the good work 👍🏻
Hayley says
Can this be made into cupcakes?
Joy says
Did you try it? I loved this as a cake but was thinking of making it into cupcakes for a socially distanced gathering coming up where individual desserts are preferred over a cake to be sliced.
Joy says
Update: I have now successfully made this recipe into cupcakes! I doubled the recipe and got two dozen cupcakes out of it. I baked for about 20 minutes but checked for when they passed the cupcake top spring-back test. I piped the buttercream on as swirls and drizzled the chocolate ganache over top (you definitely don’t need to use a full doubling of the ganache recipe to do that). They received positive reviews from friends and family :). Note the smaller serving size makes it harder to notice the cayenne - that showed up much better when I made this as a cake. Thanks for the great recipe!
Urvashee says
Hi Joy,
Thanks so much for posting your results! Super helpful to myself and other readers! I'm so glad you loved it.
Naomi says
Con's of making this cake:
Recipe says it makes two 6 inch cakes, however, if you're wanting each layer to be about 1.5 inches or higher you'd have to do 1 and a half batches of the recipe. I was only able to do 1-6 inch cake and 1-4 inch round cake that was at my desired 1.5 inch height.
Pro's of making this recipe:
The cake tastes absolutely delicious! It's rich without being too sweet and the hints of cinnamon and cayenne come through without being overwhelming. It's perfectly moist however what I like to do is if wrap them in cling wrap while still warm and put away in the freezer overnight. Then defrost slowly and the cake tastes even moister and decadent!
Overall, I'll definitely be making this recipe again and again but double/tripling the batter to get the exact measurements I want in my cake! Thank you!
Anthony Venedicto says
I made this cake today and it was ridiculously moist, fluffy, and not too spicy. The cinnamon really heightened the taste. The ganache was good, but the espresso buttercream was so light that it felt like whipped cream in my mouth. I put the whole thing in the fridge and it was just so awesome. My family loved it as well. Thanks.
Urvashee says
Hi Anthony,
Thanks so much for the kind words. Glad you liked it!
Christina says
Made this cake last night and it was DELICIOUS. I doubled the cake & frosting, making it into a 3 layer 6 in. cake. The cake was moist, with just the right amount of warmth left on your tongue from the cayenne. My husband and I are not usually fans of buttercream, but this was so creamy & not overly sweet. Everything balanced out perfectly - and the ganache drip is the cherry on top. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Pat says
I made this cake for a get together on Memorial Day. Everyone raved about it. It has a nice subtle chili flavor that everyone loved. I will definitely make this again.Pat