Chocolate Cake Recipe
This recipe is foolproof and very easy – no creaming of the butter and sugar required. All you need is a saucepan, a whisk and a cake tin. It also keeps well and will freeze with no problems.
Ingredients
250g butter
250ml water
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
150ml sour cream
2tsp vanilla
2 cups self raising flour
Melt butter together with the water in a large saucepan over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the cocoa and whisk in well. Remove from the heat and add the brown sugar, whisking vigorously. Allow to cool slightly while you mix together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Dip your (clean) finger into the cocoa mixture to check the temperature. If your finger is fine, add the egg mixture. If it burns, allow it to cool a little further. After whisking in the egg mixture, add the self raising flour & stir until combined. It will be quite runny and have a few small lumps, but don’t worry about it. Pour into either an 8″ or 9″ greased & lined cake tin. It won’t rise much so either size is fine, though 8″ will of course make a taller cake. Bake at 170°C for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on your oven. It is cooked when the top is cracked and it doesn’t wobble in the middle when you tap the outside of the tin. Allow to cool in the tin.
How to make it more exciting!
Buttercream, ganache & decorations:
Vanilla Buttercream
250g soften butter
1kg icing sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste (or any good vanilla)
100 – 150ml pouring cream (enough to get to the right consistency)
Beat butter and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add the icing sugar and then enough cream so that it’s an easily spreadable consistency.
Chocolate ganache
Because it’s easy, I use this in the middle of the cake then transform it slightly so that it can also be used as a drizzle on the top of the cake.
200g dark chocolate
100ml pouring cream
Melt the chocolate and cream together in the microwave, starting at 30 seconds, then stir and microwave for another 20 seconds. Keep microwaving in 20 seconds increments until the chocolate is all melted. Allow to cool (or put in the fridge to speed up the process).
To Assemble
Slice the cooled chocolate cake into 2 or 3 levels, depending on the height of your cake. Spread a layer of chocolate ganache (it should be the consistency of Nutella) on the bottom layer, then smooth about a centimetre of buttercream on top. Add the middle layer and repeat. Cover the whole cake in buttercream, smoothing the top and sides as best you can. Put in the fridge and leave to set.
To do the drizzle, I warm the leftover ganache slightly in the microwave until it is a thick liquid, then add 1/2 -1 tsp coconut oil (depending on how much ganache you have left over), stirring until the coconut oil is melted and the ganache becomes glossy and smooth. Using a teaspoon, dribble a ring around the outside of the cake, pushing it slightly to encourage it to drip down the cake. Once you have the drops looking as you want them, fill in the centre of the cake with the rest of the ganache & smooth the top. Put the cake back in the fridge until you’ve finished with the decorations.
I’d love to take credit for the technique I used for the chocolate flowers, but I didn’t create it. A fantastic step-by-step video showing you exactly how to do them (and they are easier than expected) is here.
The leaves I did using the silicon embossing leaf you can see in the photo, which you can buy in any cake decorating shop or online.
The gold glitter dust is also available from cake decorating shops. To get it to stick to the outside edges of the petals, I used a paintbrush to smear some coconut oil where I wanted it to stick then went over it with a different paintbrush dipped in the glitter.
The result: utter gooey deliciousness!
The Curated Condiment 