Chocolaty Chocolate Cake

There must rarely be anyone who doesn’t like chocolate cake. And everyone has a perfect chocolate cake recipe to go to every now and then. I think i found mine this time. I had to make two versions of it, increasing the egg content to get a moist crumb. The egg white of an additional egg did the trick.

My twelve-year-old cousin came over to help me bake the cake for another cousin’s birthday party and oh boy, we had a blast. Dipping our fingers in the chocolate ganache (icing) and testing for that perfect ‘chocolaty taste’ . I personally think, chocolate tastes better off the fingers .. What say?

Oven fresh moist cake topped with deep and dark chocolate. This is what Sunday mornings should be.

Now the amount of chocolate ganache icicng can be varied based on personal taste, but its always good to make a little more, which can be used on ice creams later on.

For the chocolate cake you will need :

125g flour (maida)
30g cornflour/cornstarch
40g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

125g yoghurt
30g water
115g butter
275g sugar
2 whole eggs + 1 egg white

1. Mix the dry ingredients flour, cocoa powder, cornflour baking soda and baking powder together . Sieve it together 2-3 times. A lot of air gets incorporated in the flour during sieving which makes the cake lighter.
2. Whisk the yoghurt and water to form a smooth paste and keep it aside.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC. Line a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper.
4. In a big bowl, combine the butter and sugar and whisk till the butter lightens. Sugar will not completely get dissolved in the butter, which is ok, because there is double the sugar than the butter.
5. Then add the 2 eggs and the  1 egg white one by one, whisking till it becomes foamy. Make sure the egg is fully incorporated before adding the next one. I used an electric whisker. But even a hand-held blender or a manual egg whisker would work well. Make sure to periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicon spatula.
6. Next, switch to a spatula and alternately mix the dry ingredients and the thinned yoghurt until fully incorporated into the batter. Start and end with the dry ingredients.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes @ 170ºC till a skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Let the cake cool completely before cutting.

For the chocolate ganache, you will need :

300g dark chocolate (I used Mordes)
375g full fat cream (Amul fresh chream)
30g butter, cut into small cubes

1. Cut the chocolate into 1/2 inch size pieces and place them in a bowl.
2. Bring the cream to a full boil in a thick bottomed vessel. Be careful, as it might stick to the bottom and start burning.
3. Pour it over the chocolate and wait a few seconds before whisking.
4. Once the chocolate is completely incorporated in the cream, stir in the butter. Room temperature butter would be better as it dissolves quickly.
5. Cover it and let it sit at room temperature till you want to use it.

Once the cake has cooled down, pour the ganache over the cake and let it drizzle down the sides. Wait for another 10 minutes before cutting.

Alternatively, cut the cake horizontally in half. Pour the ganache over the lower half, freeze it for a couple of minutes when the chocolate slightly firms up and the place the upper half of the cake, pouring more ganache.

Always serve this cake at room temperature. May be with a cherry on top, or vanilla ice cream on the side.

What is your favourite way of having chocolate cake?