Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Every year, we buy a log cake as part of our family’s Christmas dinner spread. I personally do not enjoy most commercially prepared log cakes because I find it too creamy for my palate and sometimes, it even borders towards an oily feel to the cake.

This year, since we were going to have a non-Western dinner theme, I decided to throw tradition to the winds and just went ahead with a non Christmasy cake. Since we are all a little chocolate-mad, I decided to try a chocolate cake recipe and chanced upon this.

As I did not have all the required ingredients on hand, I substituted light muscovado sugar with just caster sugar and made my own buttermilk.

I also used strawberries to decorate the cake instead and found the tartness of the fruit offsets the sweetness of the cake well.


Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Cake :
200 gm good quality dark chocolate , about 60% cocoa solids
200 gm butter , cut in pieces
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
85 gm self-raising flour
85 gm plain flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
200 gm light muscovado sugar
200 gm golden caster sugar
25 gm cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
75 ml buttermilk (5 tbsp)
grated chocolate or curls, to decorate

Ganache :
200g good-quality dark chocolate , as above
284ml carton double cream (pouring type)
2 tbsp golden caster sugar

Buttermilk Substitute :
1 cup milk
1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice

Add vinegar/lemon juice to milk and let stand for 10 min before using in recipe.

Method

1. Grease a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep) and line the base.

2. Preheat the oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/ gas 3.

3. Break the chocolate in pieces into a medium heavy-based pan and tip in the butter. Mix coffee granules into 125 ml cold water and pour into the pan. Warm over a low heat just until everything is melted – do not overheat.

4. While the chocolate is melting, mix the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa in a big bowl. Mix to get rid of any lumps.

5. Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk.

6. Pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Stir just until everything is well blended with a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour into the baking tin.

7. Bake for 90 min or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The top should feel firm, do not worry if it cracks a bit. Leave to cool in the tin (do not worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three layers.

8. To make the ganache, chop the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl.

9. Pour cream into a pan, add sugar and heat until it is about to boil. Remove pan from heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

10. Sandwich the layers together with just a little of the ganache. Pour the rest over the cake letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife. Decorate with grated chocolate or a pile of chocolate curls.

Reference : BBC GoodFood