Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Espresso Glaze and Chocolate Ganache Filling

I can can barely put into words how excited I was to do a coffee challenge! Coffee is, after all, my life blood. Coffee is the giver of all things wonderful, it takes away my cranky, it warms me up on frigid winter mornings, it lures me out of bed with its beautiful aroma every morning, and it gets me moving on that stress filled hour every day when it's time to get up, get baby up, get the poor sleepy child changed and fed and packed to go to Grandmom's, and get my butt moving out the door.

Coffee flavor is also one of my favorite things, I use it in my savory dishes, gravies, and stews for background depth and a flavor boost, but I also love, love, love it with chocolate. Why chocolate and peanut butter get all the love is beyond me. Chocolate and coffee is where it's at. So when it was time to do my first coffee recipe I turned to my favorite chocolate cake...I am sure you all know this recipe, it's been in every church cookbook since the dawn of church cookbooks, my Nana made this for every family member's birthday and whenever anyone was visiting. It is the very first cake I learned to make, and with classic white icing, straight out of the fridge it was good for breakfast, lunch or dinner as far as I was concerned.

But this cake didn't have any perceptible coffee flavor (even though there is a cup of coffee in the batter) so I needed to find a way to highlight all this goodness, because really, Lock and Load Java Double Tap is a fantastic brew that needs to get its due, its time in the spotlight, its MOMENT. So I turned to my second favorite thing, cream cheese icing. I played around, and tweaked, and you know what I found out? When you add coffee to cream cheese icing...it gets.....ruined. Hah!

It's a good thing cream cheese was on sale and I bought 2! Yes, the Gods were smiling on me that day. So back to the drawing board I went and I came up with this delicate, silky cream cheese glaze that is spiked with lots of roasted coffee flavor and is a perfect partner with the good old chocolate cake. The ganache in the middle was just gilding the lily, really....Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Espresso Glaze and Chocolate Ganache Filling

by Carrie Mason

Basic Chocolate Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Sift together:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

add:

1 cup strong brewed ( I used double strength) Lock-n-Load Java Double Tap Special Reserve
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten

Mix well for about 2 minutes, pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round cake pans.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Allow the cakes to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache Filling:

6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips (half a standard bag)
4 ounces sour cream

Melt the chocolate chips over very low heat until melted and completely smooth. Add the sour cream and stir until completely blended and the mixture is dark and glossy. Spread the mixture over top of one of the 9" rounds, top with the other cake round.

Coffee Cream Cheese Glaze:

1 stick butter, room temperature
1 8-ounce bar cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners sugar
3 Tablespoons very strong brewed coffee, well chilled (Again, I used Lock-n-Load Java Double Tap Special Reserve.)

Combine all ingredients and mix until well blended and very smooth. Pour over the assembled cake, letting it pool around the edges. Chill well before serving to allow the glaze to set up...or be like me, and get yourself a big slab right away, wash down with a hot cup of coffee or an icy cold glass of milk. Be happy.