Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

I don't eat to live. I live to eat.

Dessert

Chocolate Cake with Dulce de Leche Frosting

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Everyone has to have a go-to chocolate cake recipe. And this one is mine. I played around with ratios, various fats (oil vs butter), and finally came up with a batter that makes for a light and flavorful chocolate coconut cake.

What gives this cake a great depth of flavor is the coffee in the batter. It brings out the richness of the chocolate. I also use sour cream and coconut oil, making it extra-moist. After all, nobody enjoys a dry crusty cake. The coconut oil adds a very subtle coconuty-flavor without taking away from the chocolate. Even if you’re not the biggest coconut fan, you’ll still be able to enjoy this cake.

To top it all off, I make a fabulous Dulce de Leche cream cheese frosting using Cajeta or Dulce De Leche, also known as Mexican-style caramel. Feel free to make your own Dulce De Leche, but store-bought works just as well in this frosting recipe.

Finally, I top the cake with raspberries and toasted coconut. The tartness of the fruit really cuts the sweetness of the cake, and the toasted coconut gives a sweet nutty flavor.

I have made this cake as a single layer without coconut (as seen directly in the picture below) and it works great – so if you’re scared that you’ll end up eating a huge double-layer on your own (honestly no shame) just cut the recipe in half!

5 from 1 vote
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Chocolate Cake with Dulce de Leche Frosting

A light and moist double-layer chocolate cake topped with a lovely cream cheese Dulce De Leche Frosting. A real crowd-pleaser!

Servings 10

Ingredients

  • 1 cup black coffee (cooled)
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup coconut oil (melted and cooled)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Dulce De Leche Frosting

  • 6 oz cream cheese (softened)
  • 4 Tbsp butter (softened)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup dulce de leche or cajeta
  • 2-3 cup powdered sugar or to taste

Cake Topping

  • 1 cup raspberries or strawberries optional
  • 1.5 cup toasted coconut optional

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 and grease two 8-9 inch circular cake pans.

  2. Melt your coconut oil by popping it in microwave for 30 seconds. Allow it to cool to room temparature.

  3. In a bowl, cream together your eggs and sugar with an electric mixer or whisk.

  4. Then add in your sour cream and oil. Whisk and combine. Add in your vinegar and vanilla.

  5. Sift your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt) in a separate bowl and whisk together.

  6. Add half your dry ingredients and combine. Then add the remaining. Combine until you get a smooth and even batter.

  7. Add your batter to the cake pan and bake for about 45-55 minutes or until cake comes out clean when you put a toothpick in the center.

  8. Once done, take out of oven and let it cool on a cooling rack.

  9. Now make you frosting. Add your softened butter, cream cheese and confectioner's sugar to a bowl. Beat with a spatula or electric mixer until well combined with no lumps.

  10. Drizzle in your dulce de leche and vanilla. Combine until smooth.

  11. Once cake is cooled, top one layer with frosting using a flat frosting spatula or butter knife.

  12. Take half of the raspberries and crush them into a puree. Add to the center of bottom layer. (The raspberry puree will be in the middle layer of the cake). Then add your top layer. Frost generously.

  13. Cover cake with toasted coconut. Top with berries.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

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My sister asked me to make a cake for her birthday and so I decided to make her this fabulous, fruity and rich, extra moist and sweet, Pineapple Upside-down Cake. As a die-hard Spongebob fan, I thought she would love the concept – after all Spongebob lives in a pineapple under the sea.

Well guess what?

She thought it was lame.

Whatever, I don’t care what she thinks because the cake tasted incredible.

Yeah, I’ve got some recipes on here that are more of my sister’s liking and some that are more to my parent’s taste. And this is more of the latter. I guess a lot of that has to do with the fact that my mom and dad don’t like chocolate (weird, I know) so I often end up making fruity cakes such as this one because it’s is a non-desi dessert they will eat.

There’s only so many ways you can re-invent a classic, so I stuck to the basics with this retro dessert by adding maraschino cherries, pineapple juice, brown sugar, vanilla extract. One slight deviation I did here is that I used coconut oil instead of regular vegetable oil; the coconut flavor is subtle enough, but gives a little something extra in the background that really compliments the pineapple. I also added some almond extract for an extra kick.

This cake is super moist, sweet, and slightly tart. It’s a great way to use fresh pineapple in the spring or summer, but you can also make this in the winter with canned pineapple and I promise you that it will still be delicious!

 

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Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Servings 8

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 2/3 cup coconut oil (solid)
  • one 8 oz can crushed pineapple
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

Bottom of Cake

  • 6-7 slices pineapple (round)
  • 6-8 marachino cherries
  • 1 Tbsp butter melted
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Farenheight.

  2. Melt your coconut oil by popping it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Then allow it to cool to room temp.

  3. In the meantime, grab an 8 inch cake pan and add your melted butter to the bottom of the pan. Spread around. Take two tablespoons of brown sugar and crumble it on top of the butter in an even layer.

  4. Add your pineapple slices in an even layer. If you can't fit all of your slices in the pan, feel free to cut your pineapple slices in half and add them at the edges of the cake.

  5. Add your cherries in the empty hole of each pineapple slice and in between slices. Feel free to add however many cherries you like.

  6. Time to work on the batter. Sift your dry ingredients and add to a bowl.

  7. In a separate bowl, work on your wet ingredients. First cream together your eggs and sugars with a whisk or electric mixer. Add your melted coconut oil to the batter. (Make sure it's cool before mixing.) Lastly add in your pineapple juice and vanilla + almond extracts. Combine everything with a spatula.

  8. Add in half your dry ingredients. Mix. Add the remaining half. Mix.

  9. Add your batter to the pan and place in oven. The cake should take about 45-50 minutes but may take more or less time depending on your oven. Always check by inserting a toothpick into the cake.

  10. Remove cake pan from oven and allow to cool on cooling rack for 30 minutes or so.

  11. Once cake is cooled to room temp., turn the pan upside down onto a cake platter. Your cake is ready to be served!