With so many recipes out there you have to think about whether to use cocoa powder or melted chocolate, self raising flour or a combination of raising agents and plain flour. What fats to use, and what other ingredients can I add that makes my cake extra special. I think I have come up with a winning combination that tastes superb.
In the past I found that some cake recipes produce cakes that are either too dense and heavy or are really dry. I like my chocolate cake to be both moist and light. Chocolate fudge cake is another matter as this is a different type of cake altogether and should have a dense structure, but still have some creaminess.
I recently made a 50th Birthday cake and decided that this was going to be my winning recipe, so hear goes.
Ingredients
150g butter
150g Demerera Sugar
3 eggs
200g Self raising flour
125g melted Dark 70% chocolate
1 heaped tablespoon of Cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of instant coffee
2 tablespoons of soured cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Frosting
150g butter
250g icing sugar
75g melted 70% melted dark chocolate
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
(This make 2 x 8" cakes)
Method
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and smooth then add the eggs gradually one at a time until combined.
Pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and mix, then add the instant coffee and soured cream.
Mix together the Flour and cocoa powder and sieve half into the wet mixture and fold in with a whisk until just combined. Next sieve in the remaining flour and again fold in with a whisk until just combined.
Divide the mixture between to 8" cake tins that have been lined and greased and bake in the middle of a pre heated oven gas make 4/160C for 28-30 minutes.
The cake is done when you insert a metal skewer into the centre of the cake and it come out clean.
Remove from the oven and rest for 2 minutes before removing from the tins and allowing to cool on a wire rack.
To make the frosting combine all the ingredients until smooth.
Use a wet palette knife to smooth the frosting to give a neater finish.
With this cake I decorated it with chocolate fingers around the border and made sugar paste flowers to sit on the top as a decoration, then finished it off with a bronze ribbon to add a touch of class.
Even though there is coffee in the mixture you can't really taste it but what it does is enhance the chocolate flavour and the sour cream compliments the bitterness of the chocolate and helps keep the cake moist.
I may even be a little more adventurous next time and add a pinch of chilli............mmmmm, maybe.
Comments