Mexican Chocolate Cakes

By Dunjab

Very chocolaty, with a chile kick—and fabulous with cinnamon ice cream. We decorated the cakes with stencils made from an autumn leaf traced onto tagboard.

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 1/2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 60mins

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter two 8-in. round cake pans. Line bottoms with waxed paper cut to fit. Butter paper, then dust pans with 1/2 tbsp. cocoa.

2. Whisk remaining 1 cup cocoa, the flour, sugars, cinnamon, soda, cayenne, and salt in a bowl to blend. Add milk, oils, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla; whisk until smooth. Pour into pans, dividing batter evenly.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in each cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

4. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from pans with a metal spatula. Turn out each cake onto a plate. Discard waxed paper. Invert cakes onto racks and cool completely. Sift powdered sugar over stencils onto cakes.

Make ahead: Up to 1 day, covered; top with powdered sugar after unwrapping.