Ann Reardon

Chocolate Cake Recipe

chocolate cake recipe ann reardon howtocookthat

 

This is a beautiful moist and delicious chocolate cake with the crunch of toasted pistachios and almonds on the side topped off with rich ganache and chocolate flowers. Perfect for Christmas or any other special gathering.

Chocolate Cake Ingredients:

Makes two 8inch (20.32 centimetres) round cakes or 24 cupcakes

200g (7.05 ounces) of 70% cocoa dark chocolate
315g (11.11 ounces) or 1 1/3 cups margarine or butter
8 large eggs
2 1/4 cups or 485g (17.11 ounces) caster sugar (super fine sugar)
1 1/4 cups or 200g (7.05 ounces) plain flour (use GF flour if coeliac, this recipe has been tested with gluten free flour and works well)
1/4 cup or 30g (1.06 ounces) cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Chocolate Cake Recipe Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit).
Place chocolate and margarine into a bowl.
Melt in the microwave (30seconds, stir, 30sec, stir…).
Whisk in the sugar and then the eggs.
Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together and mix into cake mixture until just combined.
Pour into two lined 20cm (7.87 inches) round cake tins.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.  Test if its done by inserting a skewer into the centre, if it comes out clean it is ready. If the cake is looking done on top but is not yet cooked through put an empty baking tray on the shelf above it in the oven.

For the decoration

600 mL (20.29 fluid ounces) or 2 1/3 cup cream
2 tablesppons icing sugar
dash of vanilla essence
Whip the cream, vanilla and icing sugar until just thickened. Divide your bowl into half and then one half into thirds. Use one of these smaller portions between the layers. Add a generous spoon of ganache to the larger portion and mix in, use this to cover the sides of the cake.

100g (3.53 ounces) or 1 cup flaked almonds
100g (3.53 ounces) or 3/4 cup pistachios, chopped
Roast the almonds and pistachios on a tray in the oven at 180ºC or approx 5 minutes. Leave to cool
Press the nuts onto the side of the cake as shown in the video.

Ganache Recipe
300g (10.58 ounces) milk chocolate
100 mL (3.38 fluid ounces) or 1/3 cup cream

Break the chocolate and put into a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and then pour over the chocolate. Leave to sit for a couple of minutes and then stir until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the bench overnight to firm up.

Use the ganache to decorate the top of the cake.

chocolate cake recipe ann reardon
Chocolate Flower Tutorial
How to temper chocolate and what chocolate to use for chocolate decorations

by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
2014

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

491 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 4.5

    When you write “Makes two 8 inch (20.32 centimeters) round cakes or 24 cupcakes” – you mean I can do this cake in a cupcake form? How do you use the cream for cupcakes?

  2. Rating: 2

    I don’t understand the five star reviews on this recipe. It was a complete disaster for me. A bake time of 20 minutes?? I really questioned that when I put it in, and for good reason. We’re now at about 40 minutes, and the outsides are burning, the middle is dry, and the cake between the middle and outsides is still underdone. So weird. Plus, it’s all spilling over the sides of the pans. I’m going to have to cut off the ring of cake that goes all around the cake pan. (Yes, I used 8″ pans.) I live at 7200 feet, so I made high altitude adjustments–which I know how to do–but the whole recipe just looked suspect to me, and I should have listened to my gut. Eight eggs?? Only 1 1/4 c. flour?? I’m hoping I can salvage it and still use it for the coke bottle cake. Also, it definitely needed the electric mixer. As soon as you put the eggs in with the chocolate/butter mixture, the chocolate starts to harden, so whisking by hand doesn’t work. Either I did a bunch of things wrong (feedback please if you can tell what they are), or there are some mistyped amounts in the recipe itself. Maybe it will taste delicious. Hope so.

    • Hello Karen. The only feedback I can give you is about the baking time. It doesn’t work for me either but Ann has an electric oven and I have a gas one so baking takes more time for me (around an hour). To avoid it getting burned while you wait for the center to cook you can cook it at a lower temperature and cover the top with aluminum foil so it wont burn while the rest is baking. What struck me as odd though was the fact that the chocolate hardens for you. I tried this reipe with and without an electric mixer and what you said never happened (it happened with other recipes). I mix the chocolate and the butter together and that doesn’t harden, maybe was that?
      I do agree though that 8 eggs is a lot but the taste is amazing so it’s worth it!
      I hope this helps and the recipe works for you because it’s delicious and it’s perfect for 3d cakes!

  3. Rating: 5

    I adore this cake recipe and it never let’s me down. I have been tasked with making a cake to feed 80 people… thinking of making a tiered cake with a 12 inch, 10 inch and an 8 inch cake using this. For the 12 inch tier how many times do I duplicate this recipe please? I’m thinking double, split between 2 tins…? And baking at 150⁰c for over an hour? Thanks so much in advance! Kelly.

    Ps I was gifted your gorgeous book for my birthday and I just love it!

  4. Rating: 5

    How would i convert this to a standard sponge, instead of chocolate cake please? Thanks

  5. Rating: 5

    Using just the cake recipe for Teddy bear cake. Just been testing the GF vs non GF version in a 1/4 batch. Couldn’t tell the difference between the two. Both were delicious and easy to make. Taste amazing fresh from the oven but also really good cold and feels nice and sturdy for a big shape cake. I do recommend!

  6. Rating: 5

    I made this for my roommate’s birthday and he loved it! I used butter instead of margarine, I blitzed up my granulated sugar to improvise caster sugar, and I also mixed milk and dark chocolate chunks and it turned out awesome. I also used the molding gel you linked to make the chocolate shapes, so the you really helped bring this cake together and make my roommate’s birthday special. Never stop sharing your awesome recipes because millions of us are hungry for more <3

  7. 1trainers

  8. Rating: 3.5

    Your choc cake recipe says oven temp should be 180c whereas the video says 160c Fan, which is correct as went with video and even after additional time, wasn’t cooked in the middle when a skewer was inserted. Was getting worried that the cake would dry out if kept in the oven any longer.
    Going to redo but would like if possible a reply before wasting more expensive resources.

  9. Rating: 5

    A much loved recipe, thank you Ann! PS. My first ever attempt at the chocolate flowers!

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