Comments on: espresso chiffon cake with fudge frosting

By: N.

N. — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:23:43 +0000

Argh, I wish I had found this recipe before I made mine and my husband’s birthday cakes/cupcakes! I too had thought of some sort of syrup to soak in, but couldn’t figure out the logistics! Next time I’m going to try this one.

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:28:59 +0000

I made this cake this weekend for hubby’s birthday. The cake was light, delicious and the coffee flavor was perfect. Like you, Deb, I will never again make my chocolate buttercream another way! The processor produced super-spreadable and -pipable frosting. Hubby remarked it looked like I purchased it at a fine bakery. Great recipe, great results! Thank you.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:42:58 +0000

I just made the frosting right now, to frost some cupcakes I made this am, and I swear that I will never make chocolate frosting another way again! Absolutely amazing. Tks!

By: DG

DG — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:57:44 +0000

Made this over the weekend for my MIL’s birthday to great success! She requested something “lighter” and I thought a nice chifffon would fit the bill perfectly (though I don’t think the 3 sticks of butter required for the frosting necessarily qualifies this is as a moderate dessert!) I left out the cream of tartar and forgot the half cup of sugar added to the egg whites, but the layers came out beautifully nonetheless. In lieu of espresso, I also used some very strong coffee, which worked quite well. Truly a delight! Thanks, Deb!

By: renée

renée — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:26:36 +0000

Hi Deb! I meant to post this, oh more than a month ago, when I actually made the cake, but as the mom to seven-month-old son, I think you can relate to some things taking a back burner… so here is my story about your espresso chiffon cake…

Knowing I like to find any excuse to bake, a while back my husband suggested that for our son’s Maxence (yes! like C&Z’s partner) six-month birthday on October 6 it would be neat to celebrate with a cake, but half a cake since he was going to be marking half a year. I came up with the idea to do a round cake but cut in half and arrange and frost the layers in a half-moon shape.

I combed the web for recipe ideas and as happens more often than not these days, I found a recipe that spoke to me on your site. (As i write this actually, I am baking another of your recipes which spoke to me last night, your “mom’s apple cake”… mmmm heavenly scents coming from the kitchen)…

Anyway, since I knew the cake would be consumed by adults (we are waiting until Max is one to let him dive head-first into cake) the espresso chiffon cake seemed like just the thing to please us. When I read about the variation, I became really torn, since both versions of the cake sounded so scrumptious! But I knew I wanted to stick with my husbands half-cake idea… So I pondered on it for a while and then had a brain wave: I would make the whole cake, cut it half and frost half with chocolate fudge frosting and half with the whipping cream, and make the writing white on chocolate, chocolate on white and play up the black (err, brown) and white effect. Instead of vanilla I used Kahula (coffee liqueur!) in the whipping cream, a neat trick I learned from my favourite American chef, Rick Bayless… it certainly seemed apropos to go with the espresso chiffon cake and the results were superb…

I wanted to point you the results here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/riam/sets/72157622474069671/ particularly since you now have a son of your own who will be reaching the six month mark sooner than you can imagine (it goes by way too fast!) and it seems you could use an excuse to make more cake…

Thanks for the brilliant and tasty recipes! The espresso chiffon cake recipe is a keeper…

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:59:26 +0000

Oooh, I can’t even wait to make this for my birthday in two weeks. Do you think the cake needs the sweetness from the buttercream? Because I was thinking of subbing in the whipped bittersweet frosting from the almond raspberry cake. I’ve made more smitten recipes than I can count, and they’ve all been incredible hits. Thanks for everything!!!

By: Amber Leipner

Amber Leipner — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:58:03 +0000

I made this yesterday for my husbands 1 year at his job. 90% men so this was a perfect cake for them. (german tradition to do so) OMG I was soo upset I didn’t make two. It smells and taste amazing! Thank you soo much I now have a new favorite cake;)

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:14:29 +0000

Thank you, Deb! I’m going to try that next time. I actually loved the contrast between the robin’s egg blue and the chocolate. And yeah, the gels take a ton of stirring to get rid of the streaks! P.S. Congrats on the new addition! He’s a cute one.

By: deb

deb — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:30:36 +0000

Hi Heather — I used liquid color, just a drop of blue, I think, but it came out more robin’s egg probably because the frosting was slightly yellowish from the vanilla. I know I’m supposed to like gel colors (I have a set) but I just can’t get into them — too hard to mix!

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:35:57 +0000

Hi Deb,

Question: What do you use to tint the frosting? I used those Wilton gels – I usually use them to tint frosting for gingerbread cookie icing, but it didn’t work out so well with buttercream. It started to separate a little. It didn’t look terrible, but it didn’t have the nice uniform look that the blue icing does on yours. Maybe I should have used ordinary food coloring?

Anyway, this recipe is amazing. I made it for my boyfriend’s birthday last night, and he declared it the best thing I’ve ever made (and I’m a good baker!). It’s unbelievably rich and tasty. Thank you!!