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Active Time
2 hr
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Total Time
4 1/2 hr (includes making buttercreams)
What better way to celebrate the holidays than with something fabulous? In this elegant European-style cake, thin layers of different flavors come together in each bite. Fine-textured spongecake, soaked in espresso syrup, plays off of crisp hazelnut meringue, while the coffee and mocha buttercreams intensify the richness of a collapsed chocolate soufflé. The faint, bitter edge of dark coffee essentially saves this dessert from itself.
Ingredients
Makes 8 servings
For cake layers:
For soufflélayers:
For meringue layers:
For syrup:
For filling:
Make cake layers:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter 1 sheet pan and line bottom with parchment paper, then butter parchment. Dust with flour, knocking out excess.
Step 2
Whisk together yolks, milk, vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl until combined well, then whisk in flour and salt until smooth. (Batter will be thick.)
Step 3
Beat whites with an electric mixer until they just hold soft peaks. Beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until whites just hold stiff peaks.
Step 4
Fold one third of whites into batter to lighten, then fold in remainder gently but thoroughly.
Step 5
Spread batter evenly in pan and rap against counter to release any air bubbles. Bake until cake is dry to the touch and pale golden, 10 to 11 minutes. (Leave oven on.) Cool completely in pan on a rack.
Step 6
Halve cake crosswise, cutting through parchment, to form 2 (10-by 7 1/2-inch) layers.
Prepare soufflé layers while cake bakes:
Step 7
Line second sheet pan with parchment paper.
Step 8
Meltchocolate with water, then cool to lukewarm.
Step 9
Beat yolks, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes with a stand mixer or 8 minutes with a handheld. Fold in melted chocolate.
Step 10
Beat whites with cleaned beaters until they hold soft peaks. Beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until whites just hold stiff peaks, about 5 minutes.
Step 11
Fold one third of whites into chocolate mixture to lighten, then fold in remainder gently but thoroughly. Spread batter evenly in lined sheet pan.
Bake soufflé layers:
Step 12
Bake until puffed and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs adhering, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack, then cover top of soufflé with 2 layers of damp paper towels. Let stand 5 minutes. Remove towels and cool soufflé completely in pan (soufflé will deflate as it cools). Sift cocoa over soufflé, then loosen edges with a sharp knife.
Step 13
Halve soufflécrosswise, cutting through parchment, to form 2 (10-by 7 1/2-inch) layers.
Make meringue layers:
Step 14
Toast hazelnuts, then cool, wrapped in a kitchen towel, and rub off any loose skins.
Step 15
Reduce oven to 250°F.
Step 16
Finely chop nuts.
Step 17
Beat whites with salt and cream of tartar using electric mixer until they just hold soft peaks. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until meringue is stiff but still glossy.
Step 18
Line bottom of third sheet pan with parchment. Put small dabs of meringue under corners of parchment to secure to baking sheets.
Step 19
Fold nuts into meringue and spread evenly in pan. Bake until set and pale golden, 25 to 30 minutes.
Step 20
Halve meringue crosswise, cutting through parchment, to form 2 (10-by 7 1/2-inch) layers. Return to oven and bake until crisp, 45 minutes to 1 hour more. Cool in pan, then peel off parchment.
Make syrup and assemble cake:
Step 21
Bring water, sugar, and espresso powder to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Cool.
Step 22
Loosen edges of 1 cake layer with a knife and invert onto a flat platter. Carefully peel parchment from cake and brush with some of syrup. Spread with 1 1/4 cups mocha buttercream.
Step 23
Top with 1 meringue layer and spread with 1 1/4 cups coffee buttercream.
Step 24
Carefully invert 1 soufflé layer onto buttercream and peel off parchment, then gently spread with 1 1/4 cups coffee buttercream.
Step 25
Repeat layering, ending with coffee buttercream (there will be some left over). Chill at least 1 hour (after that, wrap in plastic wrap). Trim all around cake with a long sharp knife to neaten edges. Bring to room temperature (about 1 hour) before serving.
•Cake, soufflé, and meringue layers can be baked 1 day ahead of assembly and kept, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
•Assembled cake can be chilled up to 2 days.
Leave a Review
Reviews (88)
Back to TopI have made this cake several times for special occasions and it is always a hit! And now I love that it is so easy to make gluten free for family members with celiac by substituting the flour for GF flour in the cake layers. Now this treat can be enjoyed by everyone in my family!
grateful GF
Fairfield County CT
6/1/2022
A lot of work but worth it for special occasion.
kathleenfcampbell
1/23/2021
I don't see the butter cream portion of the recipe. If i need to find my own recipe how much do I need? If I'm crazy and the recipe for the butter ream IS here please tell me where to look!
Ansella
Waterloo ON
5/28/2018
Wonderful. Next time I would bake the cake and souffle a little less (they are just a tiny bit dry) but as for the rest, divine. I did a cross hatch pattern on top with melted chocolate to finish it off.
aboomer2
Ann Arbor
8/6/2017
I dream of this cake. It is that good. I am an experienced baker who has a crazy foodie son who creates long lists of possible birthday cakes by going through epicurious. His "rule" is that you cannot have the same cake twice. We've had many goodies - chocolate wasabi whatever, salted caramel ding dong, inside out german chocolate, lemon mascarpone, and so on. This (and lemon mascarpone) are the two that call me back the most. This cake has amazing flavors and depth. Coffee? Yes please. Coffee and cake and you might find yourself yodeling with bliss. Really. Hard to make? Yes, this has many steps and during the making I wondered if it would be worth it. It is, one hundred times over. It's been awhile since I have made this, so I don't have specific tips. I should say I do sub out the flour for a gluten free flour as we have gluten issues in our house. Like nearly every cake, the flour piece is just a small part of the cake and using gf subs doesn't hinder the cake. No one can tell that it is gf. If you are looking for a cake to wow them for today or tomorrow, this one might not be for you. There are many steps, it takes time and just enjoy the process and plan ahead. This is divine.
BendOr
8/20/2016
Made this as a test run for making it for an event in May, and I learned a lot. Overall review: I am an experienced baker, and this is a lot of work. Nothing hard, just very time consuming. First, I didn't have the 10x15 pans, but I did have three 8" round pans (same area as the one rectangular pan - yay Math!), so I made each layer in three parts. This was the main reason I wanted to do a test run. I was shooting for 2 good rounds and one iffy one made with the leftover batter. This worked fine. I got a nice round cake and a half a round cake out of it. Definitely butter both sides of the parchment and dust the "up" side with flour for the cake layer. It peeled out of the pan beautifully. I bought the pre-chopped hazelnuts bc they were all I could find, and the packet was about 2/3 the amount the recipe called for. It was fine, so don't stress about getting more nuts if you can't buy them in bulk or in larger amounts. I only have a hand-Kitchenaid mixer and I was fine. Of course I had to beat the buttercream for 25 min with it, and that was annoying, but such is life in a small kitchen. Re: Buttercream. I put icewater in a large bowl, then set my buttercream bowl in that. It helped get things cool more quickly. Then I dealt with the "curdled" look by just warming things up a smidge to get the little bits to melt. It is DELICIOUS. If I get nothing else from this process, it is this buttercream recipe. I put everything together (no leftover buttercream). I have tested it at different ages/refridge levels. Freshly made is AWESOME. After a few hours in fridge is good, but I think it loses something. We are now at 2 days in the fridge (as recommended as a possibility at the end of the recipe) and I don't like the meringue. It absorbed too much moisture and is chewy. I loved it when it was crispy. So, lesson learned - assemble it right before I intend to share it.
abbeyrd
Durham, NC
4/6/2015
Am I the only one here who absolutely did NOT like this cake. I made it for my MIL`s birthday tomorrow and now am hurrying to make another. The souffle layer was bitter and the white cake layer was mushy. And let`s not go into the buttercream. 6 sticks of butter?? It's like eating butter with some sugar and coffee mixed in. I'm really upset about this because I spent all day yesterday working on it and just finished putting it together. I will not make this again.
laurasc
Montreal, Canada
3/21/2015
I'm so surprised that no one mentioned the true name for this multi-layered cake: It is called a "Marjolaine"in French. Always with a crunchy hazelnut or almond meringue layer, usually a chocolate ganache layer, cake and a buttercream layer. Always order it for dessert in France.
jamiejeffries
N. California
4/16/2014
My cousin made this for Christmas. It was absolutely amazing. All of the different textures of the different layers were divine.
ie22
Chicago
12/28/2013
No rating, since I haven't finished it yet, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD do yourself a favor and double the meringue cake layer ingredients. Since it doesn't spread as it bakes it needs to be spread on the pan nice and evenly. The provided ingredients create a VERY thin meringue layer in a 15x10" pan. I just spent 20 minutes tediously spreading an incredibly thin layer of sticky meringue on my pan, trying not to overwork it in the process. Double the ingredients and use what you need to spread it out evenly.
jleighpark
12/22/2013
对我的口味,没有更好的蛋糕或者佛罗里达州的组合vors is possible. You've got coffee and chocolate -- but not overwhelmingly so, plus the crunch of hazelnut meringue and the silken texture of the buttercreams. Cake perfection! I've made this four times and while it is time consuming, it isn't difficult. Yes, make the cakes a day in advance if you can. Be prepared for collapsing after baking and skinny cake layers. In my experience the souffle layer takes less time than the recipe says -- closer to 18 minutes. The meringue layer takes longer to crisp up -- after cutting the cake and returning it to the oven for an hour, I turned off the oven and left it in for another hour. And don't forget to let the finished cake come to room temp before enjoying. Next time I'm going to try trimming the cake layers before putting the cake together -- the souffle and hazelnut layers have thicker edges that are what make the cake require trimming -- but i'm thinking if you even them out before hand you would end up trimming less off the finished cake. For my husband's birthday yesterday, I topped it with chocolate curls and fresh raspberries. You may think the cake doesn't need another thing, but the tangy raspberries provide a nice counterbalance to the richness of the cake. The only problem with this cake is that it is so rich you can only eat a tiny piece at a time.
olybaker
Olympia, WA
7/22/2013
这是优秀的。你可以完成这个4.5hrs unless you have lots of extra bowls and a cleaning helper though. The buttercream took a couple of hours. Making the layers and layering took a few hours as well w/ lots of cleaning between layers. I made the mistake of cutting back on the butter of the buttercream and didn't have enough to cover the top, so I made a quick chocolate ganache and put that on top before trimming the edges. Don't throw away the edges...put some into a small bowl and microwave it for 15sec and you'll have something that tastes like mocha/chocolate bread pudding..mmmmm :-) I think the only thing I'd do differently is put some of the expresso syrup on the chocolate cake layers which were a bit dry even after letting the cake sit a few days for it to absorb moisture from the buttercream. This cake ends up roughly the size of half a baking sheet, so there's plenty to share to any of your lucky friends who get to taste it :-)
kenyee
Boston, MA
3/6/2013
我做了这个蛋糕吃圣诞大餐,2年前, and my guests are STILL talking about it! It was simply divine. My only job for dinner that year was desserts, and thank goodness for that. Had I been tasked with any other dishes, I think I would have gone crazy. It was extremely time-consuming (especially after two failed attempts on the coffee buttercream because I attempted to use fresh cooled espresso instead of the powder - big mistake) but it was all worth it. Take pictures upon completion, and even better, take video of your guests devouring this masterpiece - the compliments will be worth saving!
divanation
12/11/2012
Epic cake! But very complicated. I don't believe you could make it by yourself (no one to separate the eggs and wash mixer bowls) in 4 1/5 hours. I have two small children (2.9 and 5 months) so had to split it over 6 days. Then it is manageable. Separate all the eggs one night. Make buttercreams next day. Bake meringue next day - wrapped tightly, it keeps well for a week. And so on. Actually assembled the cake the night before serving. I followed the recipe exactly in all steps and every component turned out well. I did find though, that the cake layers benefit from whipping the yolks as well as the whites. The souffle is out of this world. My only gripe is the amount of buttercream between layers. It is TOO MUCH. I used a scant cupful, and even that was a bit much. This cake is so rich, and there are 6 layers of buttercream. You don't want them to be almost half an inch thick. Other than that, it is one of the great cakes; will definitely make again. And as other reviewers have noted, it certainly feeds more than 8. I wouldn't go through this whole thing for fewer than 16.
lostdreams
NJ
10/9/2012
Fantastic! My 17 year old daughter made this for Father's Day. It took her about 41/2 hours. The only thing I helped her do was figure out when the sugar was at a softball stage. (my candy thermometer is always off). The only thing I would do differently is to turn the oven off and open the door for the last 45 minutes to dry out the meringue. If you continue to cook the meringue as written it will taste a little burnt. But don't worry. The flavor actually works fabulously. My daughter followed the recipe exactly as written and it is great. Will definitely make again.
amsq
Darnestown. MD
6/19/2012
