Mexico has a rich food history – from chocolate cultivated by Mayans to the Arabica coffee brought to the country hundreds of years later. With these two wonderful ingredients alone, what better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than by making dessert? Add a little cinnamon and sugar and you have a first class coffee cake.

I use a tube pan for an elegant presentation, but you can easily substitute a 9 x 13- inch pan, retaining the flavor but avoiding the precarious flipping of the cake. Have some for breakfast with your morning coffee, or lightly toast and serve with coffee ice cream for dessert. Viva México!

Ingredients
1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened baking chocolate
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup Kahlua coffee liqueur
2 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

Topping
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. In small pan, melt chocolate over low heat, stirring frequently. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, stirring completely into mixture after each addition. Add cooled chocolate and mix well. Add vanilla and Kahlua to mixture, stirring until smooth.

In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Alternating with sour cream, add flour to mixture until smooth and creamy. The batter should be slightly thickened, but still pourable.

Grease tube pan well. Pour one half of batter into tube pan, smoothing evenly with wooden spoon or spatula. Sprinkle one half of the topping evenly over the batter, then add the rest of the batter, again smoothing surface. Insert a butter knife into the batter, and lightly swirl knife in concentric rings. This makes an interesting pattern in the center of the cake after baking. Evenly sprinkle remaining topping over batter.

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 to 20 minutes in pan before removing. When cooled, run butter knife around edges of cake to loosen from pan. Place clean plate upside down on top of tube pan, and carefully invert. Have second clean plate ready and repeat the process to return the cake to its proper position.