I always wanted to bake a moist and excellent chocolate cake but always I ended up in disaster. I sometimes wonder how things can go so wrong when you follow the recipe as such. I have tried another chocolate cake before and I should say that it was so bad that I had to throw out the whole stuff. And thought, I wouldn't try them again. But recenlty I saw this cookery show on TV in which the chef baked a chocolate cake. I got so tempted that I baked the cake next day itself. It came out so good, it just melts in mouth. I have chosen to layer the cake with chocolate whipped cream and top it with a gooey ganache that took from JoyofBaking. If you want to read more on ganache you can see it here.I love the light bitterness of the dark chocolate. And since quite lot of cocoa powder is used to make this cake , it's slightly, very slightly bitter. But if you are the kind of person who love dark chocolate, you are gonna love this. Else you can reduce the amount of cocoa used. Believe me, its amazing.
Ingredients: For the cake:
1 ¾ cup - Plain flour
¾ cup/175 gm Butter at room temperature
2 - large Eggs
¾ cup – Sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 ½ cup milk
A pinch of salt
For the Moistening Syrup :6 tbs sugar
10 tbs water
Preparation:
For the cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ Gas Mark 4/ 350° F.
2. In a large bowl, put butter and sugar and beat well using blender or whisk until creamy.
3. Add vanilla essence and beat again. After that add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift flour 2-3 times. Add cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda to the flour and mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed.
5. Add this dry mixture to the egg mixture in 2-3 batches and mix well. Add milk and mix well with spoon until you get a smooth velvety batter.
6. Grease a 9’’ baking pan and bake it for about 40-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted. This way you can make sure the cake is cooked.
7. Cool the cake completely by placing it on the wire rack.
Moistening syrup:
Heat together sugar and water until all sugar melts and the syrup just boils. Turn off the flame.Assembling the Cake:
Once the Chocolate Cake has cooled completely, place it on a large dish. Using a stitching thread, cut the cake, horizontally, into two layers. I normally Use a thread to cut a cake. I find it easier and to divide a cake using a thread. You can use knife as well. Turn over the top layer of the cake (so the top of the cake becomes the bottom) and sprinkle half of the sugar syrup all over. Then, spread the chocolate whipped cream. Always make sure that the cake is completely cooled before adding the cream.Place the second layer of cake, cut-side down, on top of the chocolate cream, gently pressing to compact. Make sure the cake is upside down, so that you will get a flat side on top. Pour the remaining syrup over the top of the second layer. pouring this surup makes the cake really moist. Cover with plastic wrap and place the cake in the refrigerator for several hours, before covering with the ganache. Garnish with strawberries and chocolate shavings or chocolate curls and dust with cocoa powder or icing powder.