Ultimate Chocolate Cake
This recipe from Good Food is called ‘Ultimate Chocolate Cake‘. They might just be right. Seriously, they are probably right. A hybrid of cake and brownie, split thrice and filled and covered in ganache.
If that doesn’t make you moan then you obviously don’t like chocolate cake.
Think it’s my new favourite.
Really! Of course, when I wax lyrical, I run the risk of someone trying it and saying ‘well, yes, it’s nice, but ‘ultimate?’, but to them I say chocolate cake is like a lottery win – there’s no such thing as a bad one. (I say ‘lottery win’ because my husband uses a much cruder expression and were I to use it, someone I know might read this and then be shocked and appalled. I mean this would be the first post on my blog that Alex’s new teachers would choose to read.)
I love all the chocolate recipes I have listed here, but I wanted one that was heavier and fudgy without relying on ground almonds – if I wanted a nut cake, I’d cook a bloody nut cake, right? – and one that still tasted of chocolate, gosh darn it to heck. Not an airy brown cake but a proper slap-you-in-the-face chocolate cake and make you use a naughty word to express your joy at having aforementioned cake in your mouth. Also, I wanted to have to chew it.
This recipe checks all the boxes. I heart it.
First, grease and line a deep 8″ springform pan. It needs to be deep – like 7-8cm deep. Make sure your baking parchment comes up above the top of the pan. Whilst you’re at it, preheat the oven to GM3/160C/325F.
Break 200g dark chocolate into pieces and put into a medium pan with 200g unsalted butter, 1 tbsp espresso powder and 125ml cold water.
Stirring, warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted.
While the chocolate is melting, mix the 85g plain and 85g self-raising flours, ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda, 200g light muscovado and 200g golden caster sugar and 25g cocoa in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps.
Beat 3 eggs (the recipe specified medium, but I used large with no ill effect) and 5 tbsp sour cream(the recipe called for buttermilk, again, it made no difference) in a bowl.
Now pour the egg mixture
and the melted chocolate mixture
into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency.
Pour this into the tin
and bake for 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes – if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm. Mine took exactly 1½ hrs.
Leave to cool in the tin (don’t worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three. If you are daunted by the prospect of cutting into three evenly, measure and mark with cocktail sticks before scoring with a knife, then cutting through.
Make the ganache: chop 200g dark chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Pour 284ml double cream into a pan, add 2 tbsp sugar, and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate.
Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
I had to leave mine for a couple of hours before I was confident it was thick enough. Then I put it into the fridge whilst I went to Jenni’s house and then had to nuke it in the microwave for 20 seconds in order that it melted a bit. Don’t make this when you’re in a hurry, is my suggestion. Just don’t use it whilst it’s still warm because it will just pour off the cake and that would be a tragedy. Give it time to firm up.
Sandwich the layers together with just a little of the ganache – I used a heaped dessertspoon full of ganache on each of two bottom layers so that I had a good, generous amount to cover the whole cake with. You won’t often hear me say this, but honestly, it doesn’t need any more between the layers. This cake can stand on its own two feet.
Smear and smooth the rest over the cake, letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife. Decorate with grated chocolate, a pile of chocolate curls, some sprinkles, or leave it as is.
The cake keeps moist and gooey for a good 3-4 days apparently. I’ve had it sat under my newly acquired and much longed for glass cake dome (it’s tall! It’s actually tall!) for 3 days and it has not suffered.
A lot of it is missing…
But it’s doing well. Just look at the crumb on this thang.
I see no sense in re-typing or copy and pasting the recipe because I made just one adjustment and that was to swap the buttermilk for sour cream. Oh yes, and I used large eggs instead of medium because that’s what I had in the house.
Here’s THE RECIPE
One last thing. If you try it, tell me what you thought!
cooking
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Angela Nilsen, best, chocolate cake, fudgy, Good Food magazine, sour cream buttermilk, ultimate chocolate cake
AAAAARGH! hand not working proper! meant to give the cake full marks, made it for a friends leaving do & it was a ROARING success with mums & toddlers alike. Though I made a slight adjustment with the icing as i didn’t have double cream or enough icing sugar but it worked a treat. Not usually a fan of choc cake as it doesn’t seem to give the same hit as a big old bar of the brown stuff but this was L-O-V-E-L-Y x
LOL Jess! Don’t worry about the ratings – it’s getting really buggy, so it might end up going anyway!
SO glad you liked the recipe too – I’m making it again for a friends’ son’s birthday next week which sadly means I’ll only get one slice of it
And the cake lives on!
Today the cake was re-encarnated into a Chocolate hedgehog cake for my Baby’s 1ST birthday. It was loved by everybody.
Is there no occasion this cake won’t work for?
LOL Jess! Happy birthday to your one-year old (one already – really?!). I am with you – can’t think of an inappropriate occasion.
Mind you…
Maybe not a good one for a ‘congrats, you lost 6 stone!’ party.