Happy Easter!!
You might not know but I'm Greek Orthodox, and the Orthodox Easter is on a different day to the Catholic/Western Easter, as we go by the old calendar!
Which means 2 things
1/ I get to celebrate Easter twice (double the feast)
2/ I get to buy up all the chocolate eggs when they're on sale :D
For those of you who after today will have an abundance of chocolate around, I can highly recommend baking it into a cake - or just sit on the sofa, with a film and eat the lot to yourself - don't tell the kids!
Chocolate in my house is almost always used in a cake, due to having a little nephew who just happens to adore chocolate cake!
Chocolate cake with white chocolate icing!
Whilst this may seem like a little more effort than a usual chocolate cake it gives a really rich fudge flavour that feels so very indulgent, and is well worth the extra effort!
Recipe
Makes 1 10" sandwich cake
Ingredients
For the cake
150g soft light brown sugar
150g caster sugar
220g stork baking spread or unsalted butter softened
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
150g Dark Chocolate
3 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
270g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking power
150ml buttermilk (or 125ml milk mixed with 25ml runny natural yoghurt)
For the white chocolate butter cream
200g stork baking bread or unsalted butter
250g icing sugar
200g white chocolate
Splash of milk
Oven at 180. 2 cake tins (8 or 10 inch) greased and lined
1 - Melt the dark chocolate either in the microwave stirring at 30 second intervals or over a bain-marie
2 – Cream together the butter/stork, sugar and vanilla extract till they go light and fluffy,
3 - Mix 2 Tablespoons of boiling water and 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder into a lose paste and mix into the butter and sugar mixture. Do NOT use drinking choc powder, it won't be anywhere near as rich. you may need a touch more cocoa or a touch more water, you’re looking for a toothpaste type texture.
4- Mix in the melted dark chocolate.
5 - Add the eggs one by one, mixing after each egg. add to the cake batter.
6 – Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix till it all comes together, finally mix in the buttermilk and divide the mixture between the 2 cake tins
7 – Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or till they're cooked and a skewer comes out clean then leave to cool for 10 minutes before you transfer them out the tins to a rack to cool completely
For the buttercream icing.
8 – Melt the white chocolate in the microwave stirring at 30 second intervals or over a bain-marie over some boiling water.
Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the pan and leave the chocolate to cool slightly
Using electric whisks beat the butter and 2 teaspoons of milk till soft and then add the icing sugar a bit at a time until combined.
Pour the white chocolate into the butter and sugar mixture and beat on a low speed until fully combined. You should find that the buttercream has a soft, spreadable consistency, if not add a little milk a tsp at a time until you can spread it.
Ice the top of one cake and sandwich the icing with the other then ice the top and sides, top with mini eggs.
The cakes WILL rise, so please don't fill your sandwich tins any more than 1/2 full, or you will end up with a chocolate cake volcano all over your oven floor - yep, I learnt that the hard way!
Any left over mixture just pour into muffin cases and enjoy them as cupcakes of chocolate muffins, they taste just as great!!
You can make this a single layer cake too! Simply halve the recipe for both the cake and the icing and your good to go!