A pure chocolate indulgence

In response to the overwhelmingly increasing number of requests for baking and cake decorating ideas that Ive been receiving lately, todays post will be containing lots of pictures covering each and every step of one of my very favourite cakes that Ive lately delivered to a neighbour on her first wedding anniversary.

Her husband is a hopeless chocoholic which actually made it much easier for me to design the perfect cake for the occasion - a triple chocolate delight. A dark chocolate cake filled with creamy chocolate marquise and covered with chocolate ganache icing!

The decorative white chocolate leaves on top and the milk chocolate sprinkles on the sides made it one of the richest and dense chocolate cakes that any chocolate buff would love to devour.




Triple Chocolate Obsession

Ingredients for the Dark Chocolate Cake :
(Its the same recipe as for cup a cake, only with different quantities) 

1 1/2 cups soft butter
2 cups icing sugar
6 large eggs
7 tbs cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup yoghurt
1/8 tsp of salt

Line and grease a 26 cm round cake pan. For an even, domeless top, try using the foil-pack method as well.


In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.



Tip: I always sieve the dry ingredients thrice to remove any possible impurities.

In a seperate bowl, cream the softened butter and icing sugar until fluffy ( for about 5 minutes) with the help of an electric mixer or a kitchen machine.




Add in salt. Now start adding eggs to this mixture -  one at a time and continue beating.






Fold in the yoghurt as well as the dry ingredients. Tip: Divide the dry ingredients into three parts, itll make the folding much easier.





Transfer the cake batter into the prepared baking pan and bake in a preheated oven (180C) for about an hour (baking time may vary depending on your oven and in case youre using the foil packs).




Take out the cake from the oven, remove the lining and place on a cooling rack.





Once the cake has completely cooled, slice in three layers. Tip: The middle one should be slightly higher than the other two. Now we have actually three different slices of the same cake. One is to serve as the bottom layer, one to cover the top and the middle one will again be butchered into strips to make walls for the mousse filling.




Take a 23 or 24cm sized pan and use it to draw a circle on the middle layer. Cut out the circle using a sharp knife. Place the outer strips onto the bottom layer of your cake.



Again repeat the process cutting out equally-broad strips from the left-over cake slice. Higher the cake walls by placing the new boundry strips on the first ones. Tip: You wont be using up the entire slice. Enjoy the rests with a hot cup of coffee or tea or make cake pops out of it.




It will form like a well. Transfer back into the baking pan. Tip: I filled up the gap between the cake and the pan using the same foil packs I used during the backing process.




Prepare the chocolate marquise and pour the filling into the prepared well.



Cover the cake with the third slice of the cake that we had placed aside in the beginning for using as top.





Cover with a plate and place in the refrigerator for two hours until firm enough to ice.

For the icing, prepare chocolate ganache by taking the following

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache:

300 g dark chocolate
300 ml cream

Break the chocolate into pieces or chop with a knife.




Take the cream in a sauce pan and place on heat. Bring to a boil.

Pour over the chopped chocolate immediately and mix with a wooden spoon until all pieces have dissolved and a fine texture is obtained.



Place in the refrigerator for an hour or until its thick like a custard/pudding. You can cover the cake with this ganache as it is or whip it first with the help of electric beaters for a couple of minutes. Tip: the colour will become lighter as you continue beating. Never put the ganache in the freezer to cool it quickly, it wont help and would rather result in a curdly mixture.

Take out the completely cooled cake from the refrigerator and ice it with the ganache. Best way to do that is by starting with the sides first and then spreading the frosting on the top. Tip: To avoid crumbs and an uneven surface, you may like to apply a very thin coating first and let it set in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes and then do the second coat. One of my favourite techniques to smooth the icing is by dipping the knife in hot water and then moving it on the icing.

Cover the sides with chocolate sprinkles. Tip: if you dont have them easily available at the markets in your area, use chocolate shavings that can be easily made from any chocolate bar with the help of a vegetable peeler.



Decorate the top with white chocolate leaves. I had some left over red marzipan on hand, so made the small fruits out of it. Place in the refrigerator until the special moment:)


Ingredients for the chocolate marquise:
(inspired from the original recipe by Frauke Watson, Callian)
200 g dark chocolate
100 g butter
3 egg yolks
75 g sugar
300 g whipping cream

Melt the chopped chocolate with butter in a small heat-proof bowl over a sauce pan filled with simmering water (double boiler technique). Once the glossy texture is obtained, remove the bowl aside and allow the chocolate mixture to cool.

Beat the egg yolks with sugar until thick and foamy.


Once the chocolate mixture has completely cooled, add one tablespoon of the yolk mixture into it and fold carefully. Then transfer back the entire chocolate mixture into the yolks and sugar mixture (this will prevent any possible scrambling of the eggs). Fold in carefully.



Whip the fresh cream in a seperate bowl (preferably  metal). Tip: Also read the tips on how to whip cream here.


Fold it into the egg chocolate mixture.



Chocolate marquise can also be made and served as a seperate dessert. It has a very fine taste and a beautiful consistency between mousse and parfait.

I am going to write a seperate blog on how to make white chocolate leaves as this one is getting really long leaving an impression that the recipe is probably hell difficult which is not true. Anyone can make this cake provided there is a will to try and enough time to spare.

Another tip: Those, who prefer having a lighter, less-intense version, may replace the dark chocolate cake with the sponge one.

And this is how it looks from inside...


Happy Anniversary to you Alexandra and Paul!!!!


Comments

  1. my my myyyyyy .... you are turning out to be quite lethal lately girl :D:D this surely is a master piece i must say ..... and this can also be a treat for the chocoholic that you have at your place ;)

    Zille

    (posting as anonymous coz this dumb thing isnt allowing me posting with my google account :S)

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  2. Hi girl....tried this one today.....it turned out FANTASTIC...MIND BLOWING....the marquise n ganache were sooooo heavenly....yummmmm....the procedure seemed to be quite lengthy n complicated but believe me it was’nt, infact I enjoyed each moment of it.....thanx for sharing the recipe....

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  3. Fatima plz can u add a detailed pictorial how to put these choco sprinkles on the sides of the cake, how can we avoid the mess, as i like ur tips

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  4. @nosheen Im glad that you all like my tips:) Will be blogging more about decorating cakes soon as a lot of baking is expected during the winters.

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  5. I use yogurt in my cakes as well. This looks so delicious!! Thanks for sharing the recipe and for the step by step instruction photos.

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  6. Salaamalaikum,Can you please share information as to what kind of chocolate I should use to make chocolate leaves..i mean the ingredients that go into it other than pure chocolate ....also here there are alot of brands of cooking chocolates available..do help me in choosing the right brand because i often am confused which one to opt for,Thanks a lot.

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    Replies
    1. Wsalam Saira, all you need is cooking chocolate:) That is either available in bars or chips that you melt/temper to make chocolate leaves( http://schee-culina.blogspot.com/2011/07/adding-some-professional-touches.html ). There are various kinds of cooking chocolate (mostly dependent on the percentage of cocoa in it) available, i.e. dark, semi sweet, milk or white...Chocolate leaves can be made using any of these.
      Regarding brands, you havent mentioned whereabout you live n what brands are available in your country..:)

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    2. Sorry I did'nt mention the brands..I live in Bahrain,a tiny island country in the Arabian Gulf,the brands available here are...Tango Cooking chocolate,Lindt,VanHouten I hope I have spelt it right,and some british brands available in select British stores.That's why I said Confusion over which one to buy...when it comes to cooking I hate to compromise..because the end result may not be so good.So do suggest some names ,so that I will look out for those and store them...I always keep stock of all things needed to bake a cake or make any dessert.Thanks once again for your reply...I am simply amazed by your talent....and I feel that I have encountered a very talented Chef and I feel lucky to have found one!!Keep up your good work and I have to add this,I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog posts...

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    3. o come on, reading such good stuff about yourself is kinda embarassing, you know:DDD I am not even close to a professional cook, but as long as great readers like you will keep coming back to my blog, Ill keep sharing whatever I am capable of:)
      Regarding chocolate, I think Lindt, Vanhouten are really good brands. Have never tried using the others in my baking so cant really tell much about them. Happy Baking!

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  7. Shabnams cuisine4 March 2012 at 12:44

    Wooow yummmy..will try ...:))))

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  8. I made this cake at my friend's place for my friend and it was like was it me who baked it ?......but I must tell you the texture of the cake is amazingly soft loved it.......also tagged the pic with you........thanks for sharing the recipe......

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  9. hi fatima...im going to try this recipe today...i just love this cake....but i have one suggestion...why not post videos for basic cakes with basic frosting...could be alot of help..but as they say practice makes perfect

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