I love chocolate and I love cake. I mostly enjoy chocolate cake but sometimes it’s either not quite chocolatey enough or far too chocolatey. If you are a fan of chocolate cake you will understand what I mean. Too chocolatey and it’s can be sickly, too rich and leave an unpleasant aftertaste.. Not chocolatey enough and it’s well a rather bland brown cake. I’ve played with recipes for ages now and I have found or rather worked away at various combinations until I’ve found the ULTIMATE chocolate cake – well for my tastebuds anyhow. I thought you may like to try it and seeing as it wouldn’t be possible to send you all a slice I will share the recipe with you, hoping you will try it and let me know what you think. I should add its simple enough for even the clumsiest baker and would be ideal as a dessert for Valentines day. Chocolate is the food of love – in my house anyway.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

You will need:

150g of Cake flour ( this is a special flour from Flourbin) SR would also work
30g of Hersheys cocoa powder (any good quality cocoa would do)
175g softened butter ( I used lightly salted lurpak as its what I had )
175g Caster sugar
1 level tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
1 tbsp milk ( plus 1 extra if required)

Preheat your oven 180C or gas 4. Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins or use silicone! ( much easier )
Place all ingdients ( except milk) in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. You want a dropping consistency so add your milk and if needed the extra spoonful. Divide mixture between the tins and smooth until level.Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when pressed with 1 finger. Cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Filling:

If you served this as a dessert you could whisk double cream with 1 tbsp of baileys and a 2 tbsp of caster sugar until thick and use as a filling or you can do as I did and make a delicious chocolate & vanilla buttercream instead.

Chocolate and vanilla buttercream:

125g Butter – very soft
30g cocoa powder (sifted)
200g Icing Sugar (sifted)
1tbsp warmed milk
1tbsp Nielsen Massey vanilla or a vanilla pod or BOTH!

In a large bowl beat your butter with a wooden spoon or an electric whisk until light and fluffy.
Gradually mix in the icing sugar and cocoa powder until smooth and creamy.
Add the vanilla and sufficient milk to give a fairly firm spreading consistency. Delicious.

Icing:

I make a chocolate glacé icing to go on top. I used the silverspoon recipe for glacé icing and whisked in a little Hershey’s cocoa powder before spreading on top, leaving to set slightly and decorating with white vice versas as I thought it would look cute. There are so many ways in which you could make this cake extra special – such as by making a ganache to top or even completely cover your cake or by really going to town on the decoration!

This cake is so moist it will taste delicious for several days but I doubt it will last that long.

When making any kind of cake especially if for a special occasion always use the best, freshest ingredients you can afford. Always use free range eggs, the best vanilla ( Nielsen Masseys – not sponsored unfortunately) and its definitely worth using special Cake flour. This is a new discovery for me after a lovely parcel from The Flour Bin and I’m enjoying trying it in different recipes. Look out for my competition sometimes this week when you can win a £30 voucher to spend with them!

Happy baking x