Ultimate Chocolate Cake

It was my friends birthday and I asked her what kind of cake she would like, she said "chocolate cake please" and I had to make this!

It's called an ultimate chocolate cake, and I know why now.  It was surprisingly simple to make, and because my husband got cake-envy, I made a smaller one for him, using a quarter of the recipe (his turned out equally as good as the big one).

I have to thank BBC good food for this recipe I can't claim any credit for the recipe, but I will claim credit for sharing it with everyone!

Ingredients

200g good quality dark chocolate , about 60% cocoa solids

200g butter , cut in pieces

1 tbsp coffee*

85g self-raising flour

85g plain flour

1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g light muscovado sugar

200g golden caster sugar

25g cocoa powder

3 medium eggs

75ml buttermilk* (5 tbsp)

*coffee - the original recipe said 'coffee granuales' but I don't do instant coffee, so I made up a serving of nespresso ristretto & used a tablespoon of this.


*buttermilk - I searched high and low for this, in the end I was referred to another recipe for making buttermilk (a tablespoon of whitevinegar topped up to a 'cup' or 250ml with milk, leave for 5mins & use as required)

FOR THE GANACHE

200g good-quality dark chocolate , as above

284ml carton double cream (pouring type)

2 tbsp golden caster sugar

Oven 140°C (fan assisted) or 160°C or Gas 3

Method

Butter a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep) and line the base.

Break the chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy-based pan, add butter, coffee & warm through over a low heat until everything is melted.

While the chocolate is melting, mix flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa in a big bowl, using your hands to get rid of any lumps.

Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency.

Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25- 1 hour 30 minutes - if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit).

Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely - I left this overnight.

When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three - this is trickier than it looks, especially if the top cracks like mine did.

Next, make the ganache: chop the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Pour the cream into a pan, add the sugar, and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. 

Sandwich the layers of cakle together with a little of the ganache and pour the rest over the cake letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife.

Decorate with grated chocolate or a pile of chocolate curls.

Behold the cake - it's big, gooey, yummy and delicious. 

My friend couldn't finish the cake herself, so she took it to work and was the envy of the office!

The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days.