One for the chocolate lovers!
This has been my favourite chocolate cake recipe for some time. I am a huge fan of really dense and moist chocolate sponge cakes instead of the typical light and fluffy recipes. This cake is a classic that you can bake for any occasion.
My go too way to serve this cake is to top it with a creamy indulgent chocolate ganache and sandwich fresh summer berries inside. The berries are the perfect way to cut through the rich chocolate taste whilst adding a dash of colour to every slice. This is definitely a cake that will have you coming back for more.
Serves 12-14
Ingredients
- 315g Plain Flour
- 1tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 67g 70% Cocoa Powder (I use Green and Blacks)
- 1.5 Cups of Boiled Water
- 80g Unsalted Butter
- 3 Eggs
- 403g Caster Sugar
For the Decoration
- 125ml Double Cream
- 150g Dark Chocolate
- 75g Milk Chocolate
- Fresh Summer Berries
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C Fan and line two 20cm cake tins with greaseproof paper.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl and gently stir together.
- In a separate bowl whisk together your cocoa powder and boiling water until fully dissolved. Set to one side to cool slightly.
- In another bowl cream together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs one at a time until completely mixed.
- Now gradually add your flour mix and cocoa powder mix to the butter. Start by adding some flour and fold into the mix, once combined, pour some of your cocoa liquid into the mix and beat in. Keep adding the dry and liquid ingredients alternatively until everything is combined.
Pour the cake batter equally amongst the cake tins and bake in your pre-heated oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Or until a toothpick comes out clean. Check your cake at around 30 minutes, if the top starts burning cover the top of your cake pans with foil and return to the oven. (This is a very liquid mix so be patient with it, it may take longer to cook but it'll be worth it).
- Once baked leave to cool partly in the tin, once you can easily touch the tin without being burned remove the cake and leave to cool fully on a cooling rack.
Decoration
- To make the ganache icing, gently heat the cream in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Keep checking the temperature of the cream to make sure it doesn't get too hot. Make sure to continuously stir it to prevent a skin forming.
- Once the cream is hot, remove from the boiling water and add the diced chocolate. Stir until melted, if needs be add back to the heat to completely melt.
- Place your bottom cake layer on a plate and spread a thin layer of ganache over the top. Using the summer berries completely cover the top of this cake layer.
- Add the remaining cake layer on top and cover in the rest of the ganache icing.
- If you prefer you can also make chocolate buttercream to cover the cake, if you find this easier. (Use the method below)
- 200 g Unsalted Butter (not stork)
- 400 g Icing Sugar
- 50 g Cocoa Powder
Make sure your butter is at room temperature and beat for about a 3 minutes.
Gradually add in the Icing Sugar, once all the icing sugar is beaten in add in the Cocoa Powder and beat again.
If it's really very stiff, add in 1tbsp of milk at a time, beating fully each time, until it becomes smooth and lovely.
Happy Baking x
PS. Don't forget to tag @beckys.bakes_ on Instagram and use the #beckysbakes to showcase your baked goods so I can see your creations <3
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