Chocolate Birthday Cake
Jul. 4th, 2024 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhubarbjamI enjoy baking, but have never quite worked out the perfect cake-making strategy. Birthdays only come around once a year, and I'm rarely allowed to make my own birthday cake! Still, for this chocolate cake recipe I cobbled together three different 'recipes' and came out with an incredibly moist, rich chocolate cake. I took a recipe for a chocolate cake, a recipe for a whipped ganache, and an old tip I'd learnt - replace milk in your recipe with buttermilk. The acidity of the buttermilk helps your cake hang onto moisture instead of drying out.
Chocolate Birthday Cake Recipe:
Optional: put some raspberries over the top of the cake to add some tartness.
Chocolate Birthday Cake Recipe:
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups (400g) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
218g plain flour
85g cocoa
Wet Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of oil
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup of boiling water
Ingredients for Whipped Ganache:
200g dark chocolate
300 ml double cream
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Cake Method:
1. Combine milk and lemon juice in a bowl and leave till later in recipe. This will become buttermilk, which helps keep the cake moist.
2. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line two round 8 inch pans very well with baking paper. The batter is quite liquid, so the pans will leak if not lined well.
3. Stir together dry ingredients.
4. Add eggs, buttermilk from step 1, oil, and vanilla. Mix until combined.
5. Stir in boiling water. The batter will be thin.
6. Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake 25 minutes.
7. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then rack.
Whipped Ganache Method:
1. While the cake is cooking, finely chop the chocolate and put into a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat cream and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar has melted into the mixture.
3. Turn up the heat and bring to boil, then remove from the stove.
4. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and whisk until glossy.
5. Leave until completely cool.
6. Beat with an electric whisk until stiff and lighter in colour. This should happen pretty quickly, so if you're having issues put the ganache in the freezer for 5 minutes and try again.
7. When the cakes are completely cool, spread the whipped ganache thickly over each cake and stack to make a double-layered cake.
2 cups (400g) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
218g plain flour
85g cocoa
Wet Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of oil
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup of boiling water
Ingredients for Whipped Ganache:
200g dark chocolate
300 ml double cream
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Cake Method:
1. Combine milk and lemon juice in a bowl and leave till later in recipe. This will become buttermilk, which helps keep the cake moist.
2. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line two round 8 inch pans very well with baking paper. The batter is quite liquid, so the pans will leak if not lined well.
3. Stir together dry ingredients.
4. Add eggs, buttermilk from step 1, oil, and vanilla. Mix until combined.
5. Stir in boiling water. The batter will be thin.
6. Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake 25 minutes.
7. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then rack.
Whipped Ganache Method:
1. While the cake is cooking, finely chop the chocolate and put into a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat cream and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar has melted into the mixture.
3. Turn up the heat and bring to boil, then remove from the stove.
4. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and whisk until glossy.
5. Leave until completely cool.
6. Beat with an electric whisk until stiff and lighter in colour. This should happen pretty quickly, so if you're having issues put the ganache in the freezer for 5 minutes and try again.
7. When the cakes are completely cool, spread the whipped ganache thickly over each cake and stack to make a double-layered cake.
