A Pinoy version of a delicious mocha cake with cream frosting. This mocha recipe is somehow a little tedious unlike other cakes that you just have to toss in all the ingredients to a mixing bowl. The extra work will produce a nice and a very delicious mocha cake.

How to Make Mocha Cake
A Pinoy version of a delicious mocha cake with cream frosting.
Ingredients
- 2 cups sifted flour
- 1 tsp. fine iodized salt
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- 2 Tbsp. instant coffee
- 2 Tbsp. cocoa
- 1/2 cup salad oil
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 8 egg yolks
- 8 egg whites
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
Mocha Frosting ingredients:
- 1 cup butter cut into big chunks
- 1 Tbsp. instant coffee
- 1 Tbsp. cocoa
- 1 cup whipping cream chilled
- 1 cup powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
How to make Mocha Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease and flour 8 -inch round baking pans and 3 inch in height. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, 1 cup of the sugar, baking powder, cocoa and coffee. Make a well in the center, and pour in oil and hot water.
- Using electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat mixture at medium-low speed for 3 minutes. Continue mixing at the same speed, add egg yolks one at a time, blending well after each addition, until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with wire beater attachment of electric mixer at medium high speed until frothy. Add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in four additions, beating until mixture is stiff and glossy.
- With rubber spatula, gently fold one fourth of beaten egg whites into batter, scrapping bottom of bowl, until lightly blended. Gently fold about 1 cup of batter into beaten egg white mixture. Repeat until all the batter has been blended into egg white mixture. Pour evenly into prepared pans.
- Bake for 20 to 35 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Fill and frost with coffee cream frosting and refrigerate.
How to make Mocha Icing:
- In a small mixing bowl of the electric mixer, beat butter with paddle attachment at low-medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add instant coffee, cocoa and beat for 1 minute. Add cream, a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is light and fluffy. add powdered sugar in four additions, beating well after each additions, until mixture is smooth.

it so very awesome delicious mocha cake
I have made this many times and it is always a crowed pleaser. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe! Now i don’t need to dream about the heavenly taste of that Goldilocks mocha cake…Because i can now make it and i can make it more coffier too if I want to. 🙂 mmmnnn love my coffee. Cheers!
I made your Mocha Cake, there must be typo error on the baking time. It said 15 minutes and of course my cake was a disaster. Can you please help…email me the right baking time. It will be highly appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Linda,
Sorry for that typo. Please try 20 to 35 minutes.
Hello po! Can I steam this po ba?
Hi Amya, it can’t be steamed. You have to bake it in an oven.
Oh,okay then. Thanks tho!
Can I use vegetable or any kind of oil instead of salad oil??
When putting the instant coffee in the frosting, is it prepared instant coffee or just the coffee grounds?
Thank you for this easy to follow recipe. It was a success! all of the people who tried this on my 1st attempt loved it! Keep it up!
Hi Roxanne, thanks for sharing your cooking experience!
What temperature in °C and mins would you recommend for a fan forced oven? I tried 30-40 mins at 180°C but the centre was still not cooked through.
Hi Diana, I think you need to extend the cooking time until the center is cooked.
Hi can it be done in cupcake too?
Hi Reyzie, yes I think it can be done.
Hi just a quick question.
Just wanna know what kind of flour you use? Cake flour or all purpose flour? Thank you so much! Looking forward for your reply. God bless. ☺
Hi Syra, you can use either cake flour or all-purpose flour.
Can I use espresso powder for the frosting?
Hi G, I think you can use espresso powder
Can i use vegetable oil?
Hi Kate, yes I think you can use vegetable oil.
Hi, for the sifted flour, do you sift the flour before or after you measure?
Hi Nina, you sift the flour after you measure.
Hello,
Can I use hand mixer instead of stand mixer?
Thank you
Hi Eppie, you can use a hand mixer.
Hi. Wondering if this is a 2 or 3 layer cake? Thank you.
It’s up to you. You can make it 2 layer but I’m not sure if the icing is enough for 3 layer cake.
Hello. What is whipped cream? I that heavy cream that has been whipped? Or is it like cool whip? … sorry if my question sounds kinda silly. Thank you.
Hi M, You can find the whipped cream recipe on Google.
hi, i made this cake and it kinda failed since di po sha nag rise since wala pong baking soda sa ingredients list. what seems to be the problem po ba?
May baking powder naman sa ingredient list. Siguro depende sa klase ng baking powder. Gamitin nyo yung Calumet double acting baking powder.
Hello what to use in substitute of egg and cream of tartar?please guide me
Hello hanisha, I’m sorry can’t think of any substitute.
Hanisha you can use lemon juice to substitute, or vinegar. I use lemon juice all the time, and I also used it for this recipe. It works great. I’ve used vinegar also in the past for a merengue and that worked great as well. I just used the same amount as the cream of tartar that you would need. Hope this helps
Hi. Can I use two 6×2 pans for this recipe? Thanks
Hi! I made this last night. The cake batter was good but for some reason my mocha frosting split. I made it 2 times and both times they split. I followed the recipe carefully. The whipping cream did not seem to mix with the butter-cocoa-coffee mixture.. and it split more after the addition of powdered sugar. Should I have whipped my cream first before combining with the butter mixture? What do you think happened? Thank you.
Yes I think you need to whip the whip cream again because it might have curdled.
This happened to me too. I didn’t see in the instructions that the whipping cream should be whipped first. Now I know.
My frosting curdled so badly too, I thought there was no way to fix it anymore. But I searched online how to fix curdled buttercream, and found that the reason the frosting curdled was the butter was too cold. To fix it, I just had to put the bowl in a hot water bath for a little bit to bring up the temperature of the butter. After I tried to whip it again, it formed the perfect frosting!
Is the resulting cake a very light and soft chiffon cake? My friend just made one using a “Goldilocks recipe” but it turned out that the cake was not as light and chiffon-y as another “perfect” one I buy from a Filipino who makes excellent mocha and buko pandan cake.
How many cake pans do you need?
Hi Angel, you only need one cake pan.
Does the whipping cream have to be whipped before adding to the butter? I have also tried it twice and both times the butter mixture curdled and it was worse after adding the powdered sugar. I tried room temperature butter and cold butter but neither one worked.
Hi Cindy, you have to put the cream gradually, 1 tablespoon at a time.