Chocolate cake for real chocolate lovers. With chocolate pudding, chocolate cream cheese frosting, moist chocolate sponge and crunchy daim and malteesers.
1tbspglucose/corn syrupcan substitute for honey but it will affect the taste
155cocoa powder
85gcornstarch
85gbutter
1tspvanilla extract
pinchof salt
Chocolate cheese frosting
200gchocolate
150gbutter at room temperature
50gpowdered sugar
15gcocoa powder
1 1/2tbspboiling water
100gcream cheese at room temperature
+ crushed up maltesers and mini daim chocolates
300mlof milk
1tbspof rumoptional
Decoration
100gwhite chocolate
50gwhipping cream
additional daim and maltesers
Instructions
Chocolate sponge
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Butter and coat lightly with flour two 23 cm cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper. Because I don’t own two cake pans I first baked half of the cake batter and then the second one. In a bowl mix together cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, salt and set aside.
Mix butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time then add vanilla extract.
At low speed add the dry ingredients and buttermilk in 3 separate alternating batches starting and ending with flour. Just to be clear. Add a third of dry ingredients, quick mix, half of buttermilk, quick mix and so on just until the mixture is fully incorporated.
Divide the batter in half. In my case I put half of the batter in a cake tin and baked it, then repeated with the other half. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 min or until a toothpick/clean knife is inserted to the center of the cake and comes out clean with few moist crumbs attached.
Chocolate pudding
In a large saucepan combine sugar, 600 ml of water, cocoa powder and glucose. Bring to a boil whisking constantly!! In a bowl mix the remaining water and cornstarch, mix until smooth then add to the cocoa mixture. Cook on medium heat, whisking constantly, for about 3 min or until the mixture is very thick.
Put off the heat and whisk in the butter, vanilla extract and salt. Scrape the filling into a bowl and press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the filling. Let cool, then refrigerate until firm, 45 min.
Chocolate cheese frosting
Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie and set aside to cool. Mix together water and cocoa powder.
In another bowl beat the powdered sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the chocolate, cocoa mixture and cream cheese until fluffy.
Assemble
Warm up the milk with a tbsp of rum. Crush up the maltesers and daim into small pieces (not too small). Cut the tops of the cake to make them even. You can eat the top of the cakes or make them into crumbs and decorate the cake with them.
Then cut both cakes in half horizontally.
Place the first layer of the cake on a cake plate and soak it with 5 tbsp of milk. Spread with half of the pudding and sprinkle with daim chocolates.
Cover with the second sponge layer, soak with 5 tbsp of milk and spread with half of the chocolate cheese frosting. Again sprinkle with daim chocolates and continue with third sponge layer. Soak with 5 tbsp milk and spread with the remaining pudding (leave some pudding for the decoration of the cake) and daim chocolates.
Layer the final sponge layer, soak with 5 tbsp milk and frost the whole cake with the remaining chocolate cheese frosting.
Put in the fridge to set for a few hours or overnight.
White chocolate ganache
Break the white chocolate to pieces in a heatproof bowl, in a pan heat up the cream until boil and pour over chocolate.
Wait a minute then mix together. Wait until it cools a little bit and then use for decorating.
I decorated the cake with white chocolate ganache, chocolate pudding, maltesers and and chocolate sprinkles.