Indulgent Love-By-Chocolate Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

I’m not normally the type of person who craves chocolate, and when I do eat chocolate it’s got to be dark. Cake, rice pudding or cereal are usually my comfort foods of choice. However, there are exceptions to the rule. These past few weeks have been really busy at work and what with it being the run up to Valentines Day I keep seeing blog posts full of indulgent looking chocolate based desserts with the result that by the time Friday rolled round I was more than ready for some full on chocolate indulgence. The richer and darker the better.

After a quick internet search I happened upon a cake recipe by a chef called Ed Kasky that had literally hundreds of rave reviews. It looked so deep, dark and chocolaty that I knew I had found my chocolate treat. The recipe made a colossal 10inch double layer cake, which even in my chocolate craved state was too much for me. I decided to make a daintier 6inch cake instead. The recipe called for 3 eggs and I pondered dividing everything by a third and using only 1 egg, but this seemed stingy and so instead went for using 1½ eggs. I know this isn’t ideal but you can simply add the remaining half egg to more eggs to bulk up an omlette or make some fried rice etc. 

Making the batter I could tell the cake was going to be a good one. Oil, buttermilk and hot coffee are used in place of butter, and both melted chocolate and a large amount of cocoa powder are used for chocolate flavour. This produced one very rich chocolaty cake batter that was of pouring consistency. The cake is also baked at a very low temperature, meaning it almost sets in the oven rather than bakes, creating a completely soft cake without a top crust, I could tell it was going to be a lovely moist cake. 

Using 1½ egg recipe produced a large amount of batter and I ended up filling 2 x 6inch tins and a spare ceramic dish with the batter. Despite using 3 dishes, the batter still rose in the oven and overflowed the sides of the tins, falling onto the oven base. Well darn, I should have stuck with my original thought of only using 1 egg. I think I made enough batter to fill 2 x 8inch tins. 

Despite a bit of baking mishap, after trimming off the overflowed bits and neatening the edges, the cake was spectacular! It was light, airy and wonderfully moist. It was a little soft and fragile at first, but firmed up a bit on cooling. Due to the large amount of batter it produced 2 very tall layers which were decadently filled and topped with a glossy dark chocolate ganache for extra indulgence.

The cake was fantastically light and almost moussy when I first ate it. The middle layer of ganache melding with the soft moist cake layers to make one delectable mouthful. The cake was sweet with a rich, slightly sticky gooey chocolate cake flavour. You don’t taste the added coffee in the cake, it just seems to deepen the chocolate flavour and make it seem even more grown up and indulgent. Oh, this was the chocolate cake of all chocolate cakes!

The smooth, creamy dark ganache worked perfectly with the cake, it really felt special and treat-worthy. In a nod to Valentines Day I decorated it simply with a sprinkle of red sugar hearts. Perfect for sharing with a loved one. I can’t wait to make it again and use 2 x 8inch tins instead. I’ll give my recipe below using 1½ eggs, but I’ll say to bake it in 8inch tins, as 6inch are far too small.

If you’re going to give in to a chocolate craving, then you might as well dive in head first and bake this wickedly indulgent sensational chocolate cake! It really is death by chocolate, but as it’s nearly Valentines, I’ve taken a bit of poetic license and called it Love-By-Chocolate instead J

Here a link to the original recipe, that I halved and adapted to make it gluten free (below).

Indulgent Love-By-Chocolate Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Cake

40g dark chocolate

170ml hot brewed coffee

275g caster sugar

*120g rice flour

*20g cornflour

*10g tapioca starch

¾ tsp xanthan gum

50g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1½ eggs

85ml vegetable oil

165ml buttermilk

½ tsp vanilla extract

*(Alternatively use 150g of your favourite gluten free plain flour)

Dark Chocolate Ganache

300g dark chocolate 60-70% cocoa

180ml double cream

40g butter

Method - Cake
Preheat the oven to 150C and grease and line the base of 2 x 8inch tins.

Finely chop the 40g chocolate and add to a small bowl with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside.

In a jug, measure out the oil, buttermilk and vanilla, set aside.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, gluten free flours, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum.

In another large bowl beat the eggs with an electric mixer until thickened slightly and pale creamy coloured, around 3 minutes.

Combine the coffee mixture to the buttermilk mixture in the jug and then slowly add the liquids into the whisked egg mixture, whisking slowly all the time. Don’t worry if there is some solidified chocolate bits left behind, just add these in too.

Add the flour mixture a third at a time, beating gently between each third until just combined.

Divide the batter between the tins and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, around 50mins – 1hr 5mins.

Place the cake, still in the tins on a cooling rack and leave to cool completely in the tins. Do not remove when still warm or else they will collapse.

Once cool, run a knife around the edge and carefully turn out. Place on cake on a serving plate, spread with half the ganache and top with the remaining cake layer. Spread the remaining ganache over the top of the cake and decorate as desired.

Allow to set for 30 minutes before serving.

Store any leftover cake in the fridge, wrapped in clingfilm.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
Break the chocolate into pieces and set aside.

Heat the cream in a saucepan until just beginning to simmer, but don’t let it boil.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate, stir once and leave for 3 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt. Then stir gently until the cream and chocolate are combined into a glossy mass.

Cut the butter into small pieces and stir into the chocolate.

Allow to cool until of a spreadable consistency but still soft and glossy, around 10 minutes. Use the ganache to fill and decorate the cake layers.