My little one is all grown up but he will always be my baby, even if he turns 21 this week. Prior to making his Chocolate cake, I had to get his approval as he is a tad fussy with his foods. I was not allowed to make buttercream frosting, use any fresh cream or god forbid that I put any fruits on it, even if it was choc coated strawberries. I did get an okay for salted caramel sauce. I was not allowed to use thick caramel from cooking sweet condensed milk. Who doesn't like sweet condensed milk? I secretly put this in his Milo and he loves it! Shhhhhh! So my revenge was, going overkill on the chocolate decorations, toppings, heheheh.
The salted caramel was prepared earlier, I always have a batch ready made for any occassion. I learnt to make this at a previous macaron class with FoodIam.
So here is the simpole recipe which I followed from Taste.com. There are loads of recipe there but I am sticking to the classic simple recipe for the fusspot ;)
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/20016/classic+chocolate+cake?ref=collections,top-10-chocolate-cake-recipes
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups (200g) plain flour
- 2 tablespoons cocoa ( I used Organics Greens Cocoa, they are the best I know)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
- 225g unsalted butter, softened, chopped
- 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup (125ml) milk
- Chocolates for decorations
- 1 tsp of glucose (I add this instead of butter to ganache for shine)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line a 24cm round springform cake pan.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Set aside.
3. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (don't let bowl touch water). Cool slightly.
4. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. With beaters on medium speed, add vanilla, then add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour in cooled chocolate and beat until well combined. Beat in a third of sifted ingredients, followed by a third of the milk. Repeat until all ingredients are incorporated, beating until smooth.
5. Pour mixture into the pan and bake for 45-55 minutes until risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack to cool completely.
6. To serve, spread the ganache over the top and sides of the cake using a hot palette knife, then decorate with chocolates.
7. To make chocolate ganache: Melt 150g chopped good-quality dark chocolate with 125ml heavy double cream. I heat my cream, stop prior to boiling point and pour over chocolate melts and leave it for few minutes to melt. I then stir them up and added a teaspoon of glucose to make it super glossy. I have heard that you can also add butter.
And there you have it! A chocolate cake! I even got a huge smile from the boy! Best pressie ever!
