It's February so lets celebrate the month of Love with chocolate and roses. This Decadent Chocolate Cake is a simple Devil Food Cake, dense, moist, dark, and utterly delicious. No need for any fancy decorations, just add a few roses and you are good to go.
This has always been my favourite chocolate cake and no matter how many I try, somehow they are never as good as this one. Spread the love this February and make it for someone. Here's hoping that it will become your favourite too.
The ganache topping on this cake is not your traditional one, but more like a hot butter icing. If you heat the ingredients up in a pot and pour it over the cake when slightly cool it gives the appearance of a ganache. This always works better if you coat the cake with a crumb layer of buttercream first, and place the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to harden the buttercream. This gives the ganache a smoother coating on the cake. If you would prefer a regular icing the same ingredients apply, just heat the butter on the stove to melt it, then take the pot off the stove and add the rest of the ingredients and beat with a beater until soft and creamy. You can use this to sandwich the two layers together and as a topping for the cake.
She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and he had drawn her out and shown her that she was a butterfly.
~ Ken Follett, The Pillars of the Earth
Decadent Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache
- FOR THE CAKE
- 2 cups sugar
- 1¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1½ t baking powder
- 1½ t bicarbonate of soda
- 1 t salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 t vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- ½cup butter
- 3 cups icing sugar
- ⅔ cup cocoa
- ⅓cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM (To sandwich the two layers together and for crumb layer over cake and around the sides)
- ½ cup butter
- 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- Heat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF.
- Grease and line with paper 2 x 8in baking pans. Try to use solid pans and not the springform ones as the mixture is very liquid and may pour out of the pan whilst baking.
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
- Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Stir in boiling water. Please note the mixture is very runny.
- Pour into prepared baking pans.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing onto a wire rack.
- FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- Beat butter until soft and fluffy.
- Add the icing sugar, cocoa, milk and essence and beat until evenly mixed, light and smooth.
- Spread the icing over the one layer of cake and sandwich the two layers together.
- Spread the icing over the cake and around the sides with a metal or plastic palette knife.
- Keep this layer to a minimal even if some of the cake is showing through. You just want the cake to have enough icing over it to stop the ganache from soaking in when you pour it over.
- CHOCOLATE GANACHE (not your usual ganache)
- In a pot melt the butter slowly and stir in the cocoa.
- Sift the icing sugar into the chocolate mixture and add the milk, whisking so that a nice pouring consistency forms. If this gets too thick just heat it up again and it will become running.
- Allow to cool slightly so that it does not melt the buttercream that is already on the cake.
- Line a baking tray with baking/greaseproof paper and place a baking rack on top. (This is to collect the excess ganache when you pour it over the cake.
- Take the cake out of the fridge and place it on a rack .
- Pour the lukewarm ganache over the cake and allow to coat the sides of the cake. If the ganache is too hot it will melt the buttercream/crumb layer.