I feel bad for only introducing her now. She’s one of those go-to bakes where you know that even non-chocolate lovers will be in love! One word to describe this cake? MOIST. Hands down the recipe I’ve been most asked to share; you’re welcome!
INGREDIENTS
1 LARGE LAYERED CAKE CAKE 500ml cake flour 500ml cacao 625ml castor sugar 5ml salt 12,5ml bicarbonate of soda 12,5ml baking powder 5-6 large eggs 360g buttermilk/Amazi 160g butter, melted 15ml instant coffee 15ml vanilla essence 360ml hot water CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE ICING 200g butter, room temperature 400g icing sugar, sifted 30ml cacao, sifted 5ml instant coffee 5ml vanilla essence 230g cream cheese Pinch of salt
METHOD
CAKE 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 2. Prepare two round cake tins (21-23cm) with baking paper and non-stick spray. Set aside. 3. In a large bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients. 4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and butter. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients. 5. In another bowl/jug, dissolve the coffee and vanilla in the hot water. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix everything until just combined. 6. The cake batter will be quite runny. Divide the batter between the two prepared cake tins. 7. Bake the cakes in the middle of the oven for 40-45 minutes. 8. Allow the cakes to rest for 10 minutes before loosening the sides and demoulding onto cooling racks. 9. Once the cakes are completely cooled, challenge yourself to cut each cake in half to create 4 cake layers in total. CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE ICING 1. In a medium bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer until light, fluffy and pale. This is the most time consuming step. 2. Add the icing sugar and cacao, one tablespoon at a time, until well combined and creamy. 3. Dissolve the coffee in a few drops of warm water. Add to the icing mixture. 4. Add the vanilla essence, cream cheese and salt. Mix until just combined.
TIPS 1. To add a salted caramel twist to the cake, mix 5ml of salt into a tin of your favourite caramel treat. Spread this mixture in between one or two cake layers, not on top of the cake. 2. I know that cream cheese is expensive. Feel free to make buttercream icing instead. All you need to do is leave out the cream cheese and add less icing sugar; only use 300g of icing sugar. 3. The cakes are quite heavy so make sure that the consistency of the icing isn’t too soft or runny, as this will result into the icing oozing out the sides of the cake. 4. Don’t refrigerate the icing before frosting the cake, except if the icing is too runny and you need the butter to firm up.