Did you ever bake when you were a little girl? When I was young I used to hover around my mother in the kitchen. Watching her as she cooked or baked and listening to the information she would share with me. It was no different when I visited my grandmother's. She was always so patient with me and started teaching me how to bake from my earliest memories. It is something I am so grateful for. Coming from a long line of family cooks is a special tradition I hope to always keep alive.
I remember starting out with pre mixed box cake where you just add the wet ingredients. Now, if anyone knows me this is something I frown upon, however for a seven year old me it was the perfect way to learn how to bake. By the time I was eight I had progressed to the level of sifting my own dry ingredients and starting to frost two tiered cakes. Under my mothers ever-watchful eye I took on harder recipes and challenged myself constantly.
This chocolate cake is the cake that I practiced on at my mother’s knee and you will love it because it is fail proof. It’s been in my family for five generations. This cake laid the foundation for the baker that I am today. I have so many special memories of making this cake time and time again. It is the cake that you save for that special someone’s birthday or that you bake with a friend.
And most importantly, it is about memories and making them!
Ingredients:
Cake
1 cup cocoa
2 cups boiling water
2 ¾ cups sifted flour
2 teaspoon bicarb
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup soft butter
4 eggs
2 ½ cups castor sugar
Buttercream
1 cup butter
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
¾ cup cocoa
2 eggs
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze
2 tablespoon cocoa
250ml fresh cream
125ml icing sugar, sifted
200 grams Lindt 70% dark chocolate
Chocolate shards
300 grams dark Lindt chocolate 70%
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Grease two 26cm tins or three 20cm tins
Line a small baking tin with wax paper (roughly 20cmx30cm)
Mix 1 cup cocoa with your boiling water and allow to cool to ice cold
For the chocolate shards:
Place a small pot filled with water on a medium to high heat.
Put a glass bowl on top of the pot.
Make sure the glass bowl is dry and that no water gets in as it can seize the chocolate. Bring the water to simmer and turn off heat.
Break in 2/3 of the chocolate into the glass bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes or until 2/3’s of the chocolate has melted.
Once you reach this stage you can stir the chocolate until it has all melted.
Now you are going to let the chocolate re solidify. DO NOT get any water into your bowl!
To test if your chocolate is tempering without a thermometer lift a spatula up to your lower lip and dab a little bit under your lip. This area is very sensitive to heat. If it stings a little it’s correct! It should not sting too much.
Remove the bowl off the water and dry the bottom.
Add the remaining chocolate to the melted chocolate and fold in gently until it is all melted.
The chocolate will begin to thicken and cool. This is part of the process and you will have to be patient. It can take up to a half and hour.
Touch the chocolate to the bottom of your lip again. It should be just cooler than your body temperature.
Your chocolate is now tempered which means it will have a great snap and dry glossy.
Pour your chocolate into your prepared baking tin lined with wax paper and set aside to solidify completely.
For the cake:
Beat butter and sugar until creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time mixing well after each one.
Add vanilla
Sift the flour, bicarb and baking powder into a separate large bowl
Add your dry ingredients alternatively to your cocoa mixture. Mixing well after each addition.
Pour an even amount of cake batter into your tins.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean
Once baked allow to cool on a cooling rack.
For the buttercream:
Beat together butter, icing sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa until a light and fluffy consistency is reached.
For the glaze:
Temper your 200 grams dark Lindt chocolate. Keep it over the simmering water and add the icing sugar, mixing until it is fully combined. Add the cocoa powder again mixing well after each addition.
Warm the cream up in a small saucepan. Once warm add it to the chocolate. The chocolate shouldn’t seize because both chocolate and cream are warm. However if it hardens do not panic, just keep mixing. Remove from heat and keep mixing. The chocolate glaze will come together and become a thick running consistency.
Remove your chocolate sheet from the wax paper and cut into even strips. You should have enough if you cut them about 5cm thick length ways.
Ice your cake using the buttercream and an icing or butter knife.
Pour the glaze slowly over the top of your frosted cake.
When the glaze has set decorate your cake with the chocolate shards!
-Melissa