“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”
~ Charles M. Schulz
Who doesn’t love chocolate cake?
Actually, my husband! But even Ben loves this cake, declaring it ‘the best chocolate cake he has ever tasted’.
If you’re looking for a simple, easy, moist chocolate cake recipe that can be whipped up as easily as a packet mix but with so much more flavour and goodness – this is it.
It really is as simple as throwing the ingredients in a bowl, mixing together, placing in the oven and baking. Kids and non-cooks will have success with this recipe. So yummy. So easy.
The cake is dense and fudge-y. You could serve it plain, or dust a little icing sugar over the top, but for a real celebration the ganache frosting totally rocks. In fact it dresses up this simple cake so much that suddenly it could be a special occasion cake, a dessert cake, a fancy cake…
I’ve made this very successfully with gluten-free flour too. This recipe is a keeper!
Ingredients:
Cake: 1 cup of plain flour (can be wheat flour or gluten-free), 4 tablespoons cocoa, 1 teaspoon bicarb soda, 1 pinch of salt, 1 cup of soft brown sugar – lightly packed, 1 large egg, 1 cup of sour cream, 1 teaspoon of vanilla
Chocolate Ganache: 200 grams of dark chocolate (70% cocoa is great!), 200 grams of cream, 1 tablespoon of honey
Method for Cake:
Line a 23cm round, deep tin with baking paper. Preheat your oven to moderate (160 degree celcius fan-forced or 180 degree oven – 350 degrees fahrenheit).
Sift the flour, bicarb and cocoa together in a large bowl. Add all other ingredients and then mix until combined. Don’t over-beat. You can mix by hand or with a mixer (I dump everything in my Kitchenaid and beat on low speed for a minute or so). The mixture will be thick, and it will seem like the cake can never rise. Don’t panic about that. It will.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes.
Cake should spring back when pressed lightly in the centre, or a skewer inserted in middle of cake will come out clean with no mixture sticking to it. If not quite done cook a little more.
Cool in tin. Remove paper and place on platter.
Method for Ganache:
Place cream in a saucepan and heat until warm (not boiling). You should be able to stick your finger into the cream without burning yourself. Turn off heat. Break or cut chocolate into small pieces. Add to warm cream and leave to sit for a minute or two until melting. Stir to combine and then add honey and stir once more. Leave ganache to cool until it is thick but still spreadable. You can speed this process by placing ganache in fridge for ten minutes.
Spread ganache thickly over top of cake. Decorate with sprinkles or other adornments if desired.
Store covered in fridge or a cool place and eat within three days. This cake also freezes well.
I did not have a 9″ round pan so used a 6″ x 10″ glass pan @ 325°F for 30 minutes and it was perfect!
I also did not have cream, so I used a bit of 18% cream and mixed in sour cream when it was barely warm. Super rich and fluffy, most excellent recipe. The cake batter looked rather pale when it was raw, but cooked is a rich dark brown, so most and tender. My husband loved it. It is not overly sweet.
…looks delicious…I want to try it!
oh YUM!!!!!!! I can’t WAIT to make this….
(am going to try thick yoghurt instead of sour cream)
That sounds delicious! I wonder if plain greek yogurt would work as well as sour cream. I’ve used greek yogurt in place of sour cream in savory dishes, so maybe!
Oh my , looks delicious, thank you
looks yum!
Thank you for sharing 🙂
Sounds nice