Death by chocolate cake

Happy Easter! If you haven't noticed, it is Easter weekend. The clocks go forward tonight and the easter bunny will skip merrily through our gardens/window boxes/plant pots/house tomorrow. It is this time of year where I usually wish I were a child again and had an elaborate egg hunt ahead of me in the morning. However, this year I wish I was planning the egg hunt for children. It seems my body clock is also going forward. To cope with this I made the biggest and most wicked cake I could muster. Here is Mary Berry's death by chocolate cake. It is delicious but not for the faint hearted. The texture is incredibly moist and surprisongly light. The next time I make it, I'll alternate the layers of dark chocolate ganache with white chocolate or add in some sliced strawberries in the layers.

 

For the cake you will need:

2 8 inch/20cm round loose bottomed cake tins. Grease and line them.

275g plain flour

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

215g caster sugar

3 tbsp golden syrup

3 large eggs, beaten

225ml sunflower oil

225ml milk

For the icing you will need:

450g chocolate (up to you what you use but in this case I used 70 per cent choc which makes the filling set as firm as the outside)

200g butter
If you want a squidgy filling instead use a buttercream or ganache made with double cream instead. 

To decorate:

Shavings of different chocolate, raspberries, malteasers, etc! 

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees C for fan assisted or 160 if no fan. Grease and line your tins.

In a large bowl sieve in your flour, cocoa, bicarb and baking powder. Mix together. Add the sugar and mix again. Make a well in the middle and add your oil, milk, beaten eggs and golden syrup. Beat the mixture really well with a wooden spoon until it is very smooth. 

Pour into the tins and place on the middle shelf. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes until well risen and springy to the touch.  

Leave to cool for a few minutes then turn out and leave to get completely cold. When cold, cut each cake in half horizontally. I find a bread knife is easiest for this.                                                               

To make the icing, break the chocolate up into small pieces and place in a heat proof bowl over a gently simmering pan of water. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl. Stir occassionally and melt the chocolate gently. Be careful not to do this too quickly or the chocolate will split. Take the melted chocolate off the heat and add in the cubed butter. Leave to melt, then stir in. 

Place the wire rack on a baking tray to catch any drips. Start to sandwich the layers together with the ganache. Pour the remaining over the top of the cake and smooth over the whole cake with a pallette knife or any smooth edged knife. Leave to set completely, then add any decoration if you want to.

 Serve as it is or (as suggested by my uncle in California) with clotted cream for extra naughtiness. Enjoy! x

 

Drizzle your heart out

Yesterday was Mothering Sunday. I hope you remembered to pamper your mothers/grandmothers/care givers. My own Mama came over for tea and cake, flowers and chocolates. Little did she know that a little more than my love went into the making of the cake...more on that later. 

It was absolutley freezing, was it not? Even in Devon it was awfully chilly and the wind was biting at fingers, toes and noses. Having just got my old, trusty steed back form her visit 'up north', it was on this horrid afternoon that I dragged Mummy round the yard, before the fortitude of tea and cake. I have never been so quick at bringing in a couple of horses, changing rugs etc in my life! Brr...spring, where have you gone?

It was great haste that we rushed home to hot tea and rather large slices of a heavenly (if I say so myself) lemon drizzle cake. As I mentioned before, rather a little too much of me went into the cake and it was not made without some stress and hair pulling. I grated a chunk of flesh off when grating the lemon zest which caused quite a lot of blood to gush everywhere (and may have gone into the cake mixture..). The electric handwhisk blew up just as I was trying to make the frosting - cue expletives and a sore shoulder today. And finally the cake itself took far longer to cook than I had anticipated, which made for a lot of 'Bake Off' poses staring at the oven to see if it was done. 

It turned out well in the end but I was concerned that Mothering Sunday was going to turn into a horrific comedy sketch.

This cake is made with a lot of ground almonds which gives it a delicious taste and a moist texture. I add raspberries but you could leave them out or substitute with other berries. The drizzle and frosting are both from Peggy Porschen's Boutique Baking book. 

Best served in large slices.

For the cake you will need:

Line and grease an 8 inch sandwich tin

Oven at 180 degress C but check cake after 25/30 minutes. If it is browning too much, cover loosely with foil.

200g softened butter

200g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

50g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

125g ground almonds

finely grated zest of 2 lemons (minus a chunk of your thumb/fingers)

1 punnet of raspberries

For the syrup:

150ml of fresh lemon juice

150g caster sugar

For the frosting:

zest of 2 lemons

500g icing sugar

200g cream cheese

200g softened butter

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric hand whisk. Slowly add the eggs, beating well after each one. Fold in the flour, baking powder and almonds, then the lemon zest.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin. Poke in some raspberries, about 10, then bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Test with a skewer or chopstick to see if it is done. It will be quite moist but make sure no crumbs come onto the skewer.

Whilst the cake is baking you can make the syrup. Simply place the lemon juice and sugar into a pan and gently bring to a simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Put aside unil ready. When you have baked the cake, poke it all over with holes and brush the syrup over it. Do this whilst the cake is still warm as it will absorb the syrup better this way. Leave to cool in the tin over a wire rack.

To make the frosting, cream the butter and sugar together. In a different bowl, whisk the cream cheese util it is fluffy, then gradually add this to the butter and sugar. Whisk until well combined and add the zest. Cover the cake in frosting, smoothing it out with a knife. You may have some left over, you can keep it covered in the fridge for a few days. To decorate, scatter more raspberries on top and sprinkle with icing sugar. Enjoy!