Chocolate Cake Recipes

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake for every Occasion

This is a superb recipe for chocolate cake. Because it is simple, and takes five minutes to do. And it works. Every time! This chocolate cake does keep well but in our house it has always been wolfed down within the first 24 hours!

Ingredients

1 and ¾ cups plain flour
1 and half cups white granulated sugar
3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder
1 and half cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 and half teaspoons baking soda
100g melted butter
3 medium eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla essence (artificial vanilla essence won't give the same result or taste!)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C. You must preheat your oven as a cold oven will affect the final result of your cake

Grease and line a 25cm cake tin.

And now the easy part! Put all ingredients into the food processor. Whiz for 30 seconds until mixed. The mixture should be quite liquid. If it seems stiff add a little more milk and whiz again. The chocolate cake mixture should be quite liquid.

Pour into cake tin and bake for approx 1 hour. Don't open the over door before this time or the cake will sink! Test with a cake skewer. If completely cooked there will be no residue on it.

Remove your chocolate cake from the oven and leave to cool for at least one hour before removing from the cake tin.

Once cooled the chocolate cake will be much easier to handle. Slice your chocolate cake in half horizontally. It is now ready to fill.

Ideas for filling and decorating your chocolate cake.

The beauty of this chocolate cake is that it can be adapted for different occasions simply by varying the fillings. It is loved by children and adults alike and its decoration can be varied to suit the occasion or age group!

This chocolate cake is a superb birthday or celebration cake filled with nothing more than whipped cream and tinned cherries, pears, or blueberries, in the middle and a chocolate or vanilla butter cream frosting on top.

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Or cream cheese frosting on top and chocolate butter cream in the middle.

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Or chocolate butter cream in the middle and top. And decorated with white and dark chocolate curls.

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Or filled with a white, milk or dark chocolate truffle ganache frosting.. (see recipe below)

.........Or filled with whipped cream and crushed amaretti biscuits.

The choice is yours.............

For Valentines day you could decorate your chocolate cake with chocolate hearts.

.............Or fill it with strawberries and cream.

Or at Easter you could decorate your chocolate cake with chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies...

As I said this chocolate cake recipe is very versatile!!!

A really simple and decadent icing is a chocolate ganache. You can also use it to make little truffles which you can use to decorate your chocolate cake with if you need the ultimate chocolate hit!

Chocolate Truffle Ganache

This is very simple to make. The secret to its success is buying good quality chocolate and melting it properly in a double boiler. (or in a bowl over boiling water). You need roughly equal quantities of chocolate and cream. You can use either milk chocolate for a sweeter ganache, dark chocolate for a more adult taste, or even white chocolate. The quantity I have given is sufficient to cover one cake. Make more if you intend to make truffles.

150 ml cream
180 g chocolate.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or over hot water. Remove from heat and stir in cream. Cool in fridge for at least one hour. Spread over the chocolate cake.

If you intend to make truffles, make a larger quantity of the ganache, and chill until almost set . Then roll into small balls. Roll in chocolate vermicelli, powdered sugar or icing sugar.

You can flavour the ganache or truffles further by e.g. adding a teaspoon of vanilla essence, or alcoholic liqueur such as cointreau, brandy, port , amaretto, coffee liqueur or whiskey. The choice is yours!

And something more - the ganache makes a superb chocolate sauce served warm over ice cream, or used as a fondue into which you can dip strawberries, bananas and blueberries.

This chocolate cake recipe is a very versatile recipe indeed!