Triple Chocolate Layer Cake
There are times when you would like to impress your guests with tasty and a special celebration cake but may be afraid of how difficult this task may be. I have a nice surprise for you. I present you with delicious, chocolaty, moist and beautiful cake to impress your guests.
I made this cake for a special occasion myself, it was a surprise birthday party for Carla - Adrian's sister. You see, the great thing about our family is that most of us are chocoholics and Carla is no exception. She was absolutely delighted when she saw the cake.
Now is your turn follow the recipe and impress someone special.
You will need two 22cm tins. Lots of chocolate, after all this is tripple chocolate cake.
INGREDIENTS
chocolate cake
360g butter
350g dark chocolate
1 expresso (8tbs)
280ml water
440g plain flower
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
60g coco powder
600g caster sugar
7 eggs
285ml buttermilk
white chocolate cream
400g white chocolate
300g cream cheese
300ml double cream
8tbs apricot jam
dark chocolate ganache
80g dark chocolate
80ml double cream
more chocolate for decoration
METHOD
chocolate cake
Preheat the oven to 160c. Grease the two tins and line with a colar made of baking parchment that extents 2cm above the hight of the tin.
Put the butter, chocolate, coffee and water in a pan and put on medium heat until everything is incorporated. Do not boil the mixture.
Put the flower, coco powder, bicarb, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl and mix all ingredients.
Combine eggs and buttermilk together then add to the dry mixture, add the liquid chocolate mixture and combine everything together with a wooden spoon.
Pour the mixture into tins and bake for 1h or until the skewer comes out clean, though it may be a bit sticky. Leave the cakes in the tins until cold. You can freeze this cake at this point for up to two months, you can also keep it in a fridge well wrapped in air tide container for a week.
white chocolate cream
Break the chocolate into pieces. Heat the cream in a pan until just hot enough to melt the chocolate. Drop the chocolate pieces into the cream and stir until they have all melted.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool until completely cold. Beat the cream cheese to soften it, then using electric mixer beat the cold chocolate in to the cream cheese. It will take couple of minutes and soft picks should form. Do not over-beat it. Once is ready put in to the fridge for 20min.
Once the cakes are completely cold take them out of the tins and cut of the uneven tops to level them up. Now cut each cake in half. Once you have 4 even cake disks you are ready for to assemble. Heat up the 8tbs of apricot jam with couple of spoons of water and once the consistency is loose, sieve through fine sieve.
Put the first cake disk on a dish you will be serving the cake on. Prepare four pieces of baking parchment (20cm by 8cm). Slide each piece under the cake gently until you will cover the serving dish on all sides. This little trick will help you keep your serving dish nice and clean when applying the cream.
Brush the apricot jam on the first layer of the cake then spoon 1/5 of the cream evenly. Add second layer of the cake and repeat the process until you reach the top layer. Make sure you brush the apricot jam all around as well as on the top of the cake. This helps to seal the cake so the crumbs will stay away when applying the top layer of cream. Once the apricot jam is absorbed you should still have 2/5 of the cream. Apply half of it on top and around the cake to achieve nice and smooth finish. I find that either large flat knife or metal spatula is good for the job. You should chill the cake for 30min before applying the final layer, it will make the job much easier. To get smooth finish when applying the final layer of your cream prepare tall container with hot water and dip your spatula in the container. Before smoothing your cake take the spatula out dry quickly in paper towel and while still hot run the sights and top of your cake. You will have to repeat this process number of times to achieve smooth finish.
dark chocolate ganache
Heat up the cream until really hot and add the chopped chocolate until melted. You will have to work fast pouring this mixture in the middle of the cake and using spoon spreading it around and forcing it to drip. If you want more runny ganache use 120ml of double cream and 80g of chocolate, this way it will be easier to spread.
I used dark and white chocolate for the top decoration.This is how you can master the chocolate curls using vegetable peeler. In one hand hold the chocolate bar I suggest you use clingfilm and kitchen towel to stop the bar from melting in your hand. Slowly and carefully, use the peeler to shave along the length of the bar to form pretty chocolate curls.
