Recipes for Mexican Chocolate Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting & Chocolate Ganache

THE MEXICAN CHOCOLATE CAKE PART
(recipe from bakedbree.com, only differences are (1) I increased/eyeballed the cayenne from her 1/2 tsp (2) I used Hershey's cocoa powder, which seems lighter than what the original author used and (3) I did not use her recommended Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting.)

Dry Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tbls balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbls vanilla extract

• Begin by preheating oven to 350 degrees. 
• Spray two - 8" cake pans with Pam. Place a parchment paper disc in the bottom of each pan and spray again. 
• Combine all dry ingredients and whisk. 
• Add the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth and glossy. 
• Pour into cake pans and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool completely.

Since I made the cake the night before, I wrapped each cooled layer in plastic wrap to keep them moist.


THE CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING PART
(recipe from bridezillabakes.com.  I doubled her recipe for this cake, which is indicated by the larger measurements below)

Ingredients
2x 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
6 tbls unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup confectioners sugar, plus more for mixing
2 tsp cinnamon

• Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. 
• Sift in confectioners sugar and cinnamon, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. 

If frosting is too thick, add warm water a tbls at a time.  If frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time.

I also made this frosting the night before and just covered with plastic wrap and stored it in the fridge.  An hour or so before I was going to use it, I pulled the frosting out and brought it to room temperature.


THE CHOCOLATE-GANACHE GLAZE PART
(recipe from martastewart.com  I doubled her recipe for this cake, which is indicated by the larger measurements below)

Ingredients
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
12 oz chopped semisweet chocolate
2 tbls light corn syrup

• Bring cream to a boil in a medium sauce pan.
• Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup.
• Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Whisk until smooth.
• Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often.
• Use Immediately.

I did wait to make this once the cake and cream cheese part of the cake was assembled.

To read about my assembly methods for this gorgeous cake, please visit this post here.


GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!!!