INTENSE CHOCOLATE CAKE

1. Preheat the oven to 185°C (165°C for a fan oven).  Sponge cake base tin   Brush thinly with oil and dust with flour. Roughly chop the chocolate, pour over 375ml of boiling water and stir from time to time until the chocolate has dissolved and a liquid mass is formed. Stir in the cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of the molasses until all the lumps have dissolved. Let the chocolate mixture cool down completely.

2. Mix the flour, salt, starch, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. In a second bowl, mix the oil and 280g sugar with the whisks of the hand mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time and continue beating for a few minutes. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla sugar, and chocolate mixture until all ingredients are combined. Then stir in the flour mixture quickly until a smooth batter is formed.

3. Pour one third (approx. 600g) of the dough into the   biscuit base tin  , smooth it out and bake on the second shelf from the bottom for 30 minutes. Do a cooking test: if the dough sticks to the skewer, bake a few more minutes, check again and only remove the cake from the oven when no more dough sticks to it. Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool on a wire rack. Clean the form, butter again, dust with flour and fill with 1/3 of the dough. Bake as above. Do the same with the third portion of dough.

4. Prepare the frosting just before assembling the cake. To do this, beat the egg white, 300g sugar, 85ml water and 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar beet syrup over a hot water bath with a hand mixer for exactly 7 minutes. Remove the bowl from the water bath and continue stirring until the mixture has cooled.

5. Level two cake bases horizontally with a large knife (photo 1). Place the first layer upside down on a cake plate. Spread some frosting about 1cm thick evenly on top. Leave a border of approx. 1cm free (photo 2). Place the second layer with the underside on top and spread the frosting on it as well. Place the third layer, top side up, and spread the remaining frosting evenly over the entire cake (Photos 3 & 4). Finally sprinkle with coconut flakes.

Tips and Tricks:

Biscuit:

• If your oven is big enough, has convection oven and you have three 23cm diameter sponge cake pans   at hand, the chocolate dough bases can be baked in parallel.

• You can also easily prepare the floors the day before and wrap them tightly in cling film.

• If you often think of birthdays at the last second, it is best to freeze three floors just in case. The frosting is quickly freshly prepared, the ingredients are always in stock. With the thawed chocolate bases, you can conjure up an impressive birthday cake at any time!

• Please do not bake as a single base, it would burn on the outside and become cooked on the inside!

Frosting:

• It is very important that all utensils for preparing the frosting are absolutely fat-free, otherwise the mass cannot be whipped up. As a precaution, wash thoroughly with hot water before preparation.

• Once the frosting has cooled, you can spice it up with food coloring if you like.

• It is best to use a stainless steel palette to spread the frosting and spread the cream quickly and with gentle pressure.

From Living at Home – September 2010 issue