Chocolate Ganache Cake

This is an absolute indulgence! Have it at room temperature to taste like the famous Death by Chocolate Cake OR eat it warm with Vanilla Ice cream for a Hot Fudge Cake feel. We have tried it both ways and it absolutely amazing in any form.

Difficulty level: Medium (if you know how to bake)

Quantity: Serves 30  

Prep time: 100 minutes – Baking time + prep-time and cooling time additional

Can be served as: Celebration cake or a dessert

Ingredients – This makes 2 kg cake; in case you want a 1 kg cake you can use half of measurements mentioned; simple!

For cake:

500 grams – Butter @ room temperature (I used salted AMUL butter; unsalted is also fine. Just add a pinch of salt later if using unsalted butter)

500 grams – Refined Flour (Maida)

500 grams – Sugar

2 tbsp - Baking Soda

1 tsp- Cooking Soda

4 tbsp - Instant Coffee powder (I used Nescafe)

8 tbsp – Dark Cocoa powder

10 eggs

1 tbsp - Vanilla extract

½ cup of Milk

Cooled sugar syrup to moisten the cake after baking

For Ganache:

350 grams - Dark Chocolate (Please use good Dark Chocolate only not milk chocolate)

200 ml – Fresh Cream

Must have tools:

1 metre clean sewing thread

Wide 2 kgs baking tray

Electric Hand mixer to mix cake

A good convection oven

Large mixing bowl

Parchment paper (Butter paper)

Flour sieve

Preparation:

Make the cake batter:

Start with powdering the sugar in a blender jar along with cocoa powder and coffer powder.  It must be a fine powder else the cake will be hard on the outside. Place the butter in the mixing bowl and add the powdered sugar mixer into it. In the flour sieve throw in the flour, baking soda and cooking soda. Sieve them all together into the mixing bowl which has butter and sugar. Add the eggs (both white and yellow), add vanilla extract and milk.

Mix the cake using the electric hand mixer; this quantity of cake is huge hence use of the electric mixer is inevitable. Mix well, till all the ingredients have blended well and have no lumps.

Bake the cake:

Pre-heat the oven at 210 Degrees. Rub the baking tray with some oil or butter so that it’s easy to release the cake after baking. Line the baking tray with the butter paper, neatly cut to its measurements. The fat you have rubbed to the tray will help hold the butter paper intact to the tray. Pour the cake batter into the tray, leaving at least 1inch space for the cake to rise while baking.  

Once the oven is pre-heated, place the tray in the oven. Don’t let the temperature in the oven decrease else your cake will not cook in time mentioned above.

Let the cake bake in 210 degrees and don’t open the door of the oven, else the cake will sink in the centre. (This actually happened with my cakeL)

Once the cake has cooked for 100 mins, take a long thin skewer and poke in the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, that means the cake is cooked. If not, cook the cake for another 10 mins.  Once the cake is cooked, it must rest for a while outside the oven so that it can cool. This step is very important. For the cake to cool down without drying it, take a aluminium foil and cover the cake gently, so that steam moistens the cake in the process of cooling down.

You may have some left over batter, which you can make some muffins for kids later. Just mix some choc chips, pour the batter in a muffin tin and bake for 10 mins in a pre-heated oven @ 210 degrees.  You have just learned how to woo your children into doing their homework!

Preparing the Ganache:

Take a heavy bottom saucepan and boil the cream. Ensure not to burn the cream. Chop the dark chocolate well, so that it melts quickly in the cream. Once the cream comes to a boil, remove from flame and add the dark chocolate. Stir till the chocolate has melted completely in the cream. Let the Ganache cool down before using it. BUT do not refrigerate it; it will become hard and difficult to use.

Layering the cake:

Once the cake has cooled down, it’s time to cut into layers. Remove the foil; invert the cake on a cake stand. (Any deep tray can be used as a stand when inverted).  Remove the butter paper from bottom and sides of the cake.

How to cut the cake? I found a video of this procedure on YouTube that can be helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHyGSrCm8c8

If you want to avoid this procedure just bake the layers separately. Divide the batter into half and bake them separately. Also make sure you bake each layer for 35-45mins only.

Remove the top half by pushing a thin plate in between both the layers and keep aside to cool. Now pour the sugar syrup on both the layers so that the cake can become moist. Don’t pour too much else the cake will become soggy.

Pour the Ganache on the bottom layer of the cake. Place the top layer on the Ganache topped bottom layer and pour the Ganache over the top layer.  Cover the cake well with the Ganache. Now the cake is ready; you can decorate it with anything you like. Cherries, Gems, wafers will be most easily available to deck it up quickly for a child’s Birthday cake. I like it plain and simple!

The remaining Ganache can be used to pour over the cake like hot fudge if eating with ice cream.

Reality check:

• Cost effective, if you have to serve cake at a 30-40 people gathering!  It will cost you half of what you will spend for a bakery made cake.
• Trust me, even if you are baking this recipe this for the first time, it will not go wrong. People will think you are an expert baker! But please follow the recipe correctly.
• The coffee will give a rich colour and add more flavour to the cocoa powder. People who don’t like coffee will not recognise the flavour; so just go ahead and use it.  
• As mentioned above, you can make lesser or higher quantities by simply dividing or multiplying the quality mentioned. For example; to make 1 kg cake divide by 2 and for ½ kg cake divide by 4.
• Left over batter can be kept in the refrigerator, for up to 18 hours.
• If you refrigerate the cake, it will become hard. Microwave it for 10-15 seconds before serving or leave it out in a warm place for some time for it to come to room temperature by itself.