This churro cake is all the flavours from fried churros in cake form. With two layers of super soft and fluffy cinnamon cake, coated in cinnamon sugar, a super-smooth cinnamon buttercream, it’s all finished off with a chocolate ganache drip.
The cake itself is a mash-up of two other from the blog – my lemon meringue cake (minus all the lemon) and this cinnamon tea cake – and I couldn’t love it more. The texture is beyond gorgeous. It’s light, soft, fluffy and moist and it’s so delicious. The buttercream comes from my gingerbread cupcakes and it’s a truly smooth, melt-on-your-tongue frosting that isn’t sickly sweet like a regular buttercream can be.
And don’t worry if you don’t consider yourself good at cake decorating – neither am I. This is a pretty forgiving cake and always turns out beautiful.
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Ingredients
The ingredients list may look long, but many of the same ingredients are used more than once.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Unsalted butter: This is in both the cake and the buttercream.
- Vegetable oil: Something like canola oil or a light flavoured olive oil is good here. It keeps the cake moist and tender.
- Sugar: Regular white granulated sugar is used in the cake, cinnamon sugar coating and in the buttercream. There is no need for icing sugar / powdered sugar in the frosting. Just granulated sugar or caster sugar is all you need for the whole cake.
- Eggs: I use large eggs when baking.
- Pure vanilla extract: A little vanilla in both the cake and buttercream adds such a lovely flavour.
- Flour: I use cake flour in this churro cake which is a combination of plain flour (all-purpose flour) and cornflour (aka cornstarch). The ratios are in the recipe notes if you can’t find cake flour. While plain flour will work, the texture is so much better with the cake flour or the flour/cornflour combo.
- Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon is used in the cake, cinnamon sugar and the frosting and gives it a classic churro cosy flavour.
- Baking powder and baking soda: This cake uses both baking powder and baking soda for lift. Don’t mix them up though as they act quite differently.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is great for adding tenderness to cakes. You could swap this for some Greek yogurt, mixed with just a little whole milk to loosen it, up to the same quantity.
- Chocolate: I make the chocolate ganache using a dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids.
- Cream: Called different things in different countries, you’re looking for thickened cream or heavy cream or similar. A pourable full-fat cream.
- Milk: Milk is used in the unique cinnamom buttercream.
- Topping: Finally, I add just a little scattering of my baked streusel topping mixed with a bit more ground cinnamon.
How to make churro cake
While there is always a little time investment in making a layer cake, there is nothing difficult here. The cake batter is very regular, and while the buttercream is slightly different with one extra step, it is absolutely worth the extra 10 minutes.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
1. Make the cake batter
Start by beating together sugar, butter and oil until you have a light and creamy mixture. Add eggs and vanilla and it will now look quite fluffy and pale
Finally, gently mix in the dry ingredients and buttermilk.
Divide the churro cake batter evenly between 2x 8 inch round cake pans that have been greased and lined, then bake for around 32 minutes.
2. Start the buttercream
While the cakes bake, you can do the first step of the buttercream. This cinnamon buttercream is called ermine frosting or sometimes boiled milk frosting and it is truly as smooth as silk, not gritty in the least and it’s less sweet than a regular icing sugar buttercream.
You start by making a pudding out of milk, flour and some sugar by cooking it in a pan until it’s very thick. Make sure to keep stirring, use a whisk if you need to, to keep any lumps at bay. This pudding mixture needs to cool to room temperature before using. You can speed it up in the fridge, just make sure it’s not cold when you add it to your butter and sugar later.
3. Dust the cakes
While the cakes are still warm (and gloriously golden brown), gently turn them out onto a cooling rack, brush with butter and coat in cinnamon sugar. I find it easiest to brush the sides first, then roll the sides in cinnamon sugar by using your hands to hold the flat sides of the cake. Then brush the tops and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the top.
4. Make the ganache
Making chocolate ganache is very simple and this one adds that all important chocolate to the churro cake that you might dunk your classic churros into. Just heat the cream until it just starts to bubble, then pour it over very finely chopped chocolate. Let it sit for a minute or two to soften, then stir to a smooth ganache.
5. Make the cinnamon buttercream
Now, let’s make the buttercream for your gorgeous churros cake. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Now add the cooled pudding mixture in 1 spoonful at a time until it’s all incorporated then beat it on medium high for 4-5 minutes until it looks thick and whipped. Lastly, beat in the cinnamon, vanilla and salt and it’s ready.
6. Assemble the churro cake
Now, it’s time to put it all together. Start by piping or spreading a couple of spatula-fuls of buttercream over the first cake layer. Level it out in the middle and pour over a little of the chocolate ganache. Top it with the second layer of cake and spread more buttercream on top, levelling it out. Then finally, put the ganache in a squeezee bottle and run it around the edge of the cake, letting it drip down before filling in the centre.
I love to top this cake with little piped stars of the leftover frosting and then a scattering of cinnamon streusel topping.
Tips and tricks
- Weigh ingredients: So important in baking, you must weigh ingredients if you want to get perfect results. It’s easy to add too much flour depending on the way you measure it into cup measures, so using kitchen scales is always best.
- Don’t overmix: The cake can turn out tough if you overmix the batter after adding the flour, so mix it just enough to incorporate.
- Chocolate not melting? If your chocolate isn’t melting properly into the cream after you’ve given it a good stir, it could be that the chocolate wasn’t chopped finely enough or the cream wasn’t hot enough. Just put the mixture into the microwave for 10 seconds and give it another mix and it should be fine. Be careful not to overheat it or it will split.
Storage
Churro cake will keep well in a cool place like the pantry for 24 hours, but longer than that and it should be kept in the fridge due to the cream in the ganache. Make sure to let it come to room temperature before serving so the buttercream and cake aren’t firm.
FAQs
Churros are made from a dough, similar to choux pastry and fried like donuts. This cake is very much a cake though, with just the classic flavours of churros
Spain. Churros are a classic treat in Spain, dunked into a thick, hot chocolate and most often enjoyed at breakfast time.
Churros have a flavour very similar to cinnamon sugar donuts. The dough is more like a choux pastry though and once fried, results in a crunchy outside and a soft interior.
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Ingredients
FOR THE CAKES
- 113 g unsalted butter softened (½ cup / 1 stick / 4oz)
- ½ cup vegetable oil (125ml)
- 350 g white granulated sugar (1 ½ cups / 12.3oz)
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 325 g cake flour (see notes #2) (2 ½ cups / 10.4oz)
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk (180ml)
CINNAMON SUGAR COATING
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter melted (28g / 0.5oz)
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar or white granulated sugar
CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 125 g dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids, finely chopped
- ½ cup thickened cream (heavy cream) (125ml)
CINNAMON FROSTING
- 1 cup milk (250ml)
- ¼ cup plain flour (all-purp flour)
- ½ tablespoon vanilla (notes 1)
- 225 g unsalted butter softened (2 sticks / 1 cup / 8oz)
- 1 cup caster sugar (or white granulated sugar) (200g / 7oz)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- 2 8 inch sandwich tins / round baking pans
- stand mixer helpful but not essential
- Small saucepan
- Spatulas
Instructions
- FOR THE CAKE:Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F.
- Grease two 8 inch round cake pans with softened butter. Line the base with baking paper then roll flour around the inside to coat the sides of the tin before tapping out the excess.
- Beat together softened butter, oil and sugar until very pale and creamy in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with handheld beater on medium-high.
- Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beat on low until fully incorporated, then scraping down sides of the bowl before adding the next. Add the vanilla with the last egg.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk well to combine.
- Swap to a spatula and add ⅓ of the flour mixture in the butter/sugar mixture and gently mix through. Add half the buttermilk and fold through. Repeat 3 more times – flour, buttermilk, flour – just gently mixing each time until just combined – don’t overmix.
- Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake tins and bake for 32-35 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
- Let them cool in the tins for 5-10 minutes then turn it out onto a wire rack.
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon, and mix well. Transfer to a plate or dish larger than the cakes in a line across the centre.
- While the cakes are still warm and working one at a time, brush the sides with melted butter. Pick it up holding the two flat sides between your palms and very gently roll the edge in the cinnamon sugar. Brush the flat sides of the cakes with butter, then sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over.
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE: Place the finely chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl.
- Add the cream to a small saucepan over medium heat and heat, swirling every so often, until it just starts to bubble.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, then give the bowl a little shake to settle the chocolate under the cream. Let it sit for 1 minute before stirring to a smooth ganache. If the chocolate isn’t melting just heat in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, no longer, then stir again.
- Set aside to cool to room temperature.
- FOR THE CINNAMON BUTTERCREAM: While the cakes are in the oven, you can begin the cinnamon buttercream. In a small saucepan whisk together the milk, flour and vanilla until smooth. Heat over low-medium heat stirring regularly so it doesn’t form lumps, for a 5-6 minutes until it thickens to a very thick paste.
- Pour the paste into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap making sure the plastic wrap is touching the paste (this will stop the top from forming a skin), then allow to cool to room temperature. You can speed this up by putting it in the fridge but make sure it’s room temp, not cold, when you use it.
- Once the paste is completely cool, beat together the butter and sugar on medium high until really creamy (4-5 minutes). Make sure to regularly scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the cinnamon and salt and beat together.
- Now add the paste, 1 large spoonful at a time and beating on low-medium to combine between each. Finally, beat on medium-high speed for 4-6 minutes. If it looks like it separates at the start, don't worry, keep on beating and it will beat up into an almost whipped cream consistency. Scrape down the sides a couple of times throughout.
- ASSEMBLE THE CHURRO CAKE:Layer 1: Spread or pipe a couple of big scoops of frosting over one cake layer. Drizzle over a couple of spoonfuls of the ganache in the centre only.
- Layer 2: Top with the second cake layer. Spread another couple of scoops of frosting on top of the second cake, levelling it out as flat as possible with an offset spatula. Wipe off the spatula, then run it around the side of the cake at the top, to straighten the top edge of the frosting, then gently level off any bits that stick upward after that.
- Ganache: Transfer the chocolate ganache to a squeeze bottle, and squeeze a thin line of chocolate around the top edge of the cake letting it drip down the side every so often. Fill the centre then level with an offset spatula.
- Transfer any leftover frosting to a piping bag with a star tip and pipe random stars over the top of the cake. Finally, if using the streusel, mix it with ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon, give it a toss, then scatter over the top of the cake.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- Cake flour: If you can’t get cake flour, just swap for; 295 g plain flour (all-purp flour) (2 ¼ cups / 10.4oz), 30 g cornflour (US cornstarch) (¼ cup / 1.1oz)
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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5 Comments on “Churro Cake”
This cake deserves more rave reviews! I make a lot of cakes and have been for many years and love trying new recipes. This one had some different elements, mostly in the frosting so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. It was spot on. Tasted just like a Churro, and that frosting is so good, I will be adding it to my rotation. Creamy light texture, not overly sweet, easy to pipe, very stable. Also perfect amount for the cake which I loved, hate when you run out. The ganache is a great detail but cake would be delightful if without it as well. Cake was light with a pleasing texture that truly reminded me of a churro and it was very stable and easy to handle. I forgot to sugar when warm and had no issue getting that to work in the morning with the melted butter.
My only advice would be to be careful with spreading frosting on the sugared layers. I would recommend piping leaving little gap and then just smoothing from there. If you are a beginner you might want to not sugar the tops because it can be a little tricky. I had no issue but I have been decorating for 20 years. I do think sugaring them is totally worth it and even if it got a little messy while trying the cake would still taste great! Seriously one for the recipe box and so good after a big Mexican meal!
I’m so happy you love it, M L. Thank you so much for the very thoughtful review 🙂
This was a great cake. I found it a bit tricky to put the sugar and cinnamon along the outside as the cake was quite fragile, so probably wouldn’t do that again. The ganache and cinnamon were a great combination. I did the buttercreas as a bare effect around the cake and it was great.
So happy you love it, Kim. I find if you splay out a hand on each round side of the cakes, you can hold them quite steady and gently while you roll the sides in sugar.
So good!