Chocolate Cake

 This cake does not have much flour so it tends to be is quite dense and rich, the frosting is basically a ganache (chocolate blended with cream) and will firm up somewhat when chilled

There are seemingly countless recipes for ganache on the web as there are chocolate cakes. Many of the key components are the same which makes them easy to expand upon

You can play with either recipe to make them your own, for the cake you might add cream cheese turning it into a cheese cake, or separate the yoke from the whites whisk the white to stiff peaks fold that in and turn the cake into a chocolate mousse torte, one might add a liqueur such as grand marnier or kahlua. You might also add fruit such as oranges or raspberries or if you like maybe nuts or chocolate chips.

As for the ganache one might add chipped butter toffee or pralines to the finished frosting for a nice counter balance.

When we bake these types of cakes for events we use somewhat more frosting then I did here, serve them sometimes by the slice other times we bake them in individual spring forms and present them typically with raspberry coulis and vanilla whipped cream or with butterscotch

Also for a smooth edge you can use a scrape or palet.

Shopping List

Semi Sweet chocolate

Unsalted butter

Eggs

Cream

Baker’s sugar

Crème fraîche

Coffee

Vanilla extract or puree

Coco powder

Light syrup

My Mad Method

Ready to eat!!

Melt 350g dark semi sweet chocolate and 225g butter over a double boiler, whisking to prevent burning and any scorching from forming

Simply beet 6 eggs together with 300g sugar, add 4 TBS crème fraîche, 2 TBS coffee and 1 and a half tsp vanilla

Sift 8 TBSP all-purpose flour, 6 TBSP coco powder, 1tsp each baking soda and baking powder, together before adding them to the mixing bowl

Fold in the melted chocolate. transfer to a well greased 25cm wide by 6cm deep spring form lined with parchment paper, bake in 175c (350f) preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour

The cake will be ready when a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean, allow the cake time to cool on a wire wrack

Prepare the frosting by bringing 1.5dl heavy cream, 1 TBSP sugar, and 1 TBSP light syrup to a boil stirring to prevent burning and melt sugar

 Off the heat add 225g semi sweat chocolate broken up so that it will melt easier

While still hot add 50-60g butter cut up in small slices so that it melts quickly enough and helps to emulsify the frosting

When the cake has cooled divide into two layers. Cover the bottom layer with 1/3 of the frosting and return the top layer. Cover the top of the cake with 1/3 more of the frosting and use the remaining frosting to cover the sides of the cake.

 When finished the frosting will be nice and smooth, when chilled the frosting will thicken