Chocolatey chocolate cake

Just over a week ago, we concluded Mr Bite's birthday celebrations with a birthday dinner with his family. His 'main' birthday cake was reserved for this occasion, and he requested the exact same chocolate cake that I made him last year.

I was delighted that he liked last year's cake enough to want it again. It should, in theory, also be easier to make the same cake one has made before rather than to make a new variety.

The only problem with this is that I rarely make the exact same dish twice. I make a concerted effort to write down measurements when I know I'll be blogging about a recipe or meal, but I don't even follow my own recipes exactly when I re-make them, never mind ones I get from elsewhere. I approximate, substitute, swap, and generally modify things to taste, mood, or circumstance.


Given this, the task of making the exact same birthday cake became a source of some anxiety. I knew the cake recipe had come from Taste.com.au, and I knew I had printed it out and thrown it into carefully stored it in my disorganised recipe drawer. I also knew that I had tried to follow the recipe closely last year, but couldn't remember if that meant exactly or just close to exactly. I also couldn't remember what chocolate I had used in the cake. All in all, I was reminded of why blogging recipes is so useful, and desperately wished that I had blogged about this cake in 2011!

My anxiety about the cake escalated when I couldn't find the recipe print out in my recipe drawer. There were some tense minutes spent sitting on the kitchen floor surrounded by papers, asking myself yet again why I can't organise my non-blogged recipes in a sensible manner.

In the end, I located the print out, made some decisions about chocolate, and dived in. It smelt the same as last year. It looked the same as last year. In the end, I am pleased to say, it was pretty well the same as last year.

The cake is very rich, and Mr Bite compares it to the densest chocolate mud cakes. I am not one for dense chocolate mud cakes and so it is much more his sort of cake than mine - fitting, of course, on his birthday. It is one of life's minor mysteries that I could eat chocolate almost endlessly, but chocolate cake is inevitably either too rich and slightly nauseating, or too dry and just not exciting. This cake is definitely in the former category, so if you like rich and dense and fudgy, this may be a cake for you.

My version of the cake is only slightly adapted from the original Taste.com.au recipe, and so I wouldn't usually re-post it here. However, I am keen to have it safely recorded for next year if it is requested! I also found the recommended cooking time to be too short, both last year and this year, and the original recipe doesn't give recommended chocolate brands or cocoa percentages. I have noted what I used below.

Chocolatey chocolate cake

Rich, chocolatey, and fudgy - a cake for special occasions

Lightly adapted from the classic chocolate cake on Taste.com.au

Makes 1 large round cake

For a printable version, see the original recipe

Ingredients

For the cake

200g good quality dark chocolate - I used 100g of Lindt 70% cocoa and 100g of Cadbury 'premium baking chocolate' 45% cocoa

1 1/3 cups plain flour

2 tbsp good quality cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

225g butter

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

For the ganache icing

150g good-quality dark chocolate - I used 60g Lindt Lindor 60% cocoa and 90g Cadbury 'premium chocolate' melts with 45% cocoa

125ml pure cream

20g butter, margarine or non-dairy spread

Method

For the cake

Preheat the oven to 160'C and grease and line a 24cm or larger round cake tin.

Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over the stove top, or in the microwave on low power, stirring regularly. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs gradually, continuing to beat. Pour in the slightly cooled chocolate and beat well. 

Add ~1/3 of the dry ingredients and ~1/3 of the milk to the butter mixture, and beat until incorporated. Repeat until the dry ingredients and milk have all been added and mixed through. The batter will be almost mousse-like.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 58 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. (58 minutes seems very precise, I know. The recommended baking time was 45 - 55 minutes, but my cake was not even close to ready at 45 minutes. It was just set at 58 minutes.)

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

For the icing

Melt the chocolate, cream and butter in a heatproof bowl over the stove top, or in the microwave on low power, stirring regularly. 

When melted, stir to combine and then allow to cool at room temperature or in the fridge for 30 minutes or until thick. 

To make chocolate curls, run a sharp knife or a vegetable peeler down the back or edges of a block of chocolate.

Without icing, this cake doesn't look particularly exciting. The icing, in contrast, is thick and creamy, spreads easily, and allows for a smooth and polished finish. I guess that is what cream does! It is certainly an easy cake to decorate.

For comparison, here is last year's version...

And a final shot of this year's...

I think that's as close to 'exactly the same' as I will ever get!

Do you have a 'go to' chocolate cake recipe? And are you a chocolate cake sort of person?

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