Death by Chocolate cake

Ingredients

What you need.

• 300g (2 and a half cups) plain flour
• 350g (1 and three quarters cups) caster sugar
• 120g (1 cup) cocoa powder (use the darkest you can find)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs
• 300ml milk or buttermilk
• 150ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 300ml hot strong coffee
• For the ganache: 200g dark chocolate, 200ml double cream
• For the buttercream: 250g softened butter, 500g icing sugar, 60g cocoa powder, 4 tbsp milk

Method

How to bake it.

1. Step 1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and line three 8 inch round tins.
2. Step 2. Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Step 3. Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
4. Step 4. Stir in the hot coffee. The batter will be very thin, almost pourable.
5. Step 5. Divide between the tins. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Step 6. Cool in tins for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
7. Step 7. Make the ganache: heat the cream just to a simmer, pour over chopped chocolate in a bowl, leave for two minutes, then stir until smooth and glossy. Cool until thickened but spreadable.
8. Step 8. Make the buttercream: beat the butter until pale, then add icing sugar and cocoa in three additions. Add milk gradually until you have a smooth, spreadable consistency.
9. Step 9. Assemble: layer cake, ganache, cake, ganache, cake. Coat the outside in chocolate buttercream. Top with chocolate shards or curls.

Tips for Harare bakers

A few things we have learned.

• The hot coffee is non negotiable. It deepens the cocoa flavour and you will not taste coffee.
• For a darker, more bitter cake, swap half the cocoa for melted dark chocolate (70 percent or higher).
• The ganache must be cool but not set hard. If it is too warm, it will slide off the cake.
• Chocolate shards: melt 200g chocolate, spread it thin on baking paper, refrigerate until set, then snap into pieces.

Want to learn it in person?

Take a baking lesson at the studio.

Cake basics, buttercream finishing, fondant, sugar flowers. Small group lessons in the studio. Beginners welcome.

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