One of my grandmother’s favorite dishes, who reared 11 children and three grandchildren, is a more than 100-year-old recipe. I get requests for the recipe every time I serve this cake.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 5 eggs
- ¼ cup cold brewed coffee
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 (16 ounce) package confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- ¼ cup cold brewed coffee
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans.
- Place the sugar and butter in a mixing bowl, and beat until light colored and smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir the coffee and cocoa into the egg mixture until well blended. Measure the buttermilk, and remove 1 tablespoon, placing it in a separate small bowl, and set aside. Stir the remaining buttermilk into the egg mixture, beating until smooth.
- Stir the baking soda into 1 tablespoon buttermilk until smooth, and mix into the egg mixture. Stir in the flour, beating until smooth. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans.
- Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick or small knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool in the pans about 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, beat 1 cup butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually sift in the confectioners’ sugar, and beat until smooth. Stir in the coffee, cocoa, and vanilla until well blended.
- Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread top with about 1/5 frosting. Place the second layer on top of the first, and frost. Repeat with the third layer. Use remaining frosting to frost top and sides.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 824 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 112 g |
| Cholesterol | 192 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 25 g |
| Sodium | 450 mg |
| Sugars | 86 g |
| Fat | 40 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
It was fine, nothing special though. It’s kind of like red velvet cake without the red color. It looks like a spice cake and tastes … sweet, but doesn’t have an identifiable flavor. I should’ve added some vanilla. I made six cupcakes & a 9×13. The 9×13 would’ve been fine for the entire recipe, but I wasn’t sure with all those eggs how big this baby was going to get. ‘Didn’t make the frosting; used homemade cream cheese frosting instead. If it were as good as the batter, I’d be in trouble. Granny’s Mahogany Cake & Frosting.
The frosting is the best I think I’ve ever made, to DIE for! But the cake, not so much…I followed the recipe exactly and the cake was relatively dry, kinda tasteless, and the EXACT color of the frosting!! I have no idea what I did wrong, but finding the frosting recipe literally made it worth it. P.S. You HAVE to add salt to the frosting, about half a teaspoon (I doubled the frosting recipe so I added bout’ one teaspoon).
I made this and it turned out fine. I’d call it a mocha cake. The buttercream turned out fine, but there is not enough to frost a three layer cake. I had to go back to the store for more sugar and butter so I could halve the recipe and frost the sides. Unfortunately, halving the recipe made for an inconsistent frosting. If I make this again, I would double the buttercream recipe.
My grandmother made this cake but I couldn’t find her recipe. Glad to have it. I would suggest to everyone to check your ingredients. Only use the finest ingredients. The cocoa powder, vanilla and espresso coffee should make a deeper chocolate flavor without too much added sweetness.
This cake is absolutely delicious! My family loved it
The cake portion of this is fine. The frosting recipe has a major flaw! Either too much butter or not enough confectioner’s sugar. I had to add more too it and ran out bc I didn’t have enough. The taste was good, but the consistency was horrible!!
I have not tried it yet. as the last time I had it was about 30 years ago and have been looking for it ever since so very glad to find and I know it will be a delicious treat for the family
I just made this cake and it is amazing!! This is now one of my favorite cake recipes 🙂
Made this cake last week. This was the: 1. First layer cake I have ever made 2. First cake I have ever made from scratch 3. First icing I have ever made from scratch This cake could not have been easier to make. However, it didn’t taste like I anticipated it. The cake did turn out very moist and very rich. I would make it again for company!
My kids & I loved this cake. It was not dry & the frosting was the best. Couldn’t really taste the coffee in the cake, & the chocolate flavor was mild but there was a “subtle” difference compared to most cakes. The kids asked for seconds.