Rich Chocolate Cake

Truly a chocolate lover's dream. Dark chocolate cake with almonds, filled and frosted with dark chocolate icing and decorated with chocolate ganache, this cake literally melts in your mouth! What more could you ask for :)

I planned to make this cake for Easter but since we were at a friend's house that day to celebrate the occasion and then came Vishu soon after that I ended up in making few days later. Both my husband and I are chocoholics, especially dark chocolates. During every visit to Barnes and Noble I mostly get attracted towards the fiction aisle, very rarely towards the cooking section. Though I love to read cookbooks, on seeing the vast number of cookbooks in the aisle confuses me and if at all I read I end up looking and drooling over the pictures rather than reading the recipes! On one such rare occasion one book caught my eye-The Golden Book of Chocolate. The hard cover with chocolate bar design, wrapped in a golden cover in the middle, with eye catching photos of various varieties of chocolate desserts made me fall in love with the book within a split second. I thought no further and went ahead to purchase it totally oblivious of the price tag. Glancing through the various cake recipes with the intention of making a cake for Easter, I got confused seeing the vast varieties of cakes and hence left it to my chocoholic partner to make the choice.

I changed the original recipe to suit our taste. This cake is made of melted dark chocolate, ground almonds along with few other ingredients and flavoured with cherry liquor. You may use any other flavoured liquor of your choice but make sure that the flavour of liquor and marmalade(mentioned below) are the same.The cake is filled and frosted with icing made of dark chocolate and butter. Finally the cake is decorated with chocolate ganache on the top and bottom edges.

Ingredients:

For cake:

8 oz(250g) dark chocolate coarsely chopped

2/3 cup(100g) all purpose-flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup(50g) almonds, finely ground

1/2 cup(125g) butter

3/4 cup(150g) granulated sugar

3 large eggs, separated

3 tbsp cherry liquor

For frosting and filling:

8 oz(250g) dark chocolate coarsely chopped

1/2 cup(125g) butter

1/4 cup(60g) cherry marmalade

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp cherry liquor

For decoration-Dark Chocolate Ganache

6 oz(150g) dark chocolate grated

150 ml heavy cream

Method:

For the cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F(180 C).
  
• Grease a 9" pan. You may use any shape.
  
• Melt the chocolate by double boiling method. Allow it to cool.
  
• In a bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt. Sift it at least four times to mix the ingredients well.
  
• Add ground almonds and mix well. Keep aside.
  
• With mixer at high speed beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. This may take about 3 minutes. Note that the bowl containing the egg whites should be clean and shouldn't have any trace of moisture, else they wouldn't expand to the required volume. Keep aside.
  
• Beat butter and sugar with mixer at medium speed in a large bowl until creamy.
  
• Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating until just blended after each addition.
  
• With mixer at low speed gradually beat in the cooled chocolate, dry ingredients and liquor.
  
• Fold the egg whites into this and mix well.
  
• Transfer the batter to the greased baking pan and bake for about 40-45 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  
• Cool cake before unmoulding.
  

For frosting:

• Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Set aside until cool enough to spread. Do not allow this to set else it would become too thick to spread.
  
• In a small saucepan add water and sugar. Heat till the sugar dissolves. Add the liquor and keep aside.
  

For decoration:

• Place the chocolate in a bowl.
  
• In a saucepan bring the cream to a boil at medium heat.
  
• Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture has become smooth.
  
• Keep aside to cool if the mixture is warm.

Assembling the cake:

• Cut the cake horizontally into two layers.
  
• Place one layer on a plate and moisten with sugar syrup prepared above.
  
• Spread the marmalade followed by a portion of the frosting.
  
• Place the other cake layer on top of this and moisten with sugar syrup.
  
• Spread the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting.
  
• Spoon the ganache into pastry bags and decorate the top and bottom edges of the cake. You may use any decorating tip of your choice.
  
• During time of serving warm each slice before serving.

This entry goes to The Love Of Chocolate event hosted by Poornima of Tasty Treats to celebrate her love for chocolate. This is for you dear :)

Pooja.

Other Cake Recipes: