I love chocolate cakes! They taste like heaven. I tried lots of chocolate cake recipes and I can honestly say that I’ve found a perfect version. It has a brownie-like sponge and a fabulous chocolate-meringue buttercream. And another great thing is the fact that it’s made in less than 2 hours.
Sponge (one 28 cm sponge)
Ingredients:
- 135g white flour
- 30g cocoa
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 145g granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 38g butter (melted)
- 1 egg
- 110ml milk
- 70ml strong coffee
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
- In a large mixing bowl sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Mix together egg, milk, coffee, vanilla extract and melted butter.
- Pour wet mixture over the dry mixture and stir until combined.
- Pour cake batter in a parchment paper-lined pan. Bake in the preheated oven at 350°F/175°C (gas mark 4) for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Chocolate-meringue buttercream
Ingredients:
- 4 egg whites
- 180g granulated sugar
- 220g butter at room temperature
- 150g melted dark chocolate
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp coffee liqueur
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Method:
- Whisk eggs and sugar over bain-marie for about 5 minutes. The mixture should be white and fluffy and the sugar should be dissolved.
- Remove the bowl from stove and mix on high speed for 5 minutes or until cool.
- When the bowl feels cool to touch, start adding butter, one teaspoon at a time.
- When all the butter is incorporated, add the melted chocolate and stir gently.
- Add vanilla extract, salt and coffee liqueur and mix.
Assembly:
- Lay the first sponge on a cake stand. Spread 1/3 of the buttercream and spread some sour cherries (optional).
- Lay the second sponge and repeat step 1.
- Lay the last sponge (the best looking one) and spread the remaining buttercream.
Notes:
- Sponge: I made only 2 sponges. For the first sponge I used the quantities mentioned above. For the second one I doubled the quantities above and baked the sponge in a 28cm pan at 350°F/175°C (gas mark 4) for about 50 minutes. When the big sponge was cool I cut it in 2.
- Buttercream: Sometimes when you add butter to meringue, the mixture splits. If this happens, just add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil and continue to mix on high speed and the cream will become smooth again.
- Source: call-me-cupcake.blogspot.ro
