Chocolate Cake Recipe
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 Flower Tutorial
How to temper chocolate and what chocolate to use for chocolate decorations
by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
2014
My Cookbook
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All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
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Hi Ann,
I am from Switzerland and I love your videos and blog. I want to make this cake for my brother’s birthday. Can i also use milk instead of cream for the Ganache??
yes, just use a little less
Mrs. Reardon, my daughter and I are going to start making our cupcakes from scratch to cut out the growing expense of buying cake mixes and I have had my eye on this particular cake for quite some time now LOL. I normally made 24 but since I found out that some of the little ones at my church were upset because I ran out of cupcakes. So I am going to start making 36. Would this particular receipe be ideal to make cupcakes with? Can I use butter instead of margarine if I keep the measurement the same or should I just stick to the receipe? I saw the previous question and wondered why you chose margarine. Thank you so much for your time and may the Lord bless you and your family. **Cheryl**
choco caramel cake please ^_^
Thank you.
Your chocolate flowers look lovely
Hi Ann! Love your vids! This is my first time following one of your tutorials. When I made the batter it did not turn out as liquid as yours. Will that affect the cake? I used butter instead and I used half the quantity. I don’t really know if it went wrong or not…
hi katherine using butter should not effect it, how did the cake turn out.
I would like to make thid pretty cake day before I need it. if I keep it in the fridge overnight would pistachios and almonds still be crunchy and tasty? I mean wouldn’t they go soft and chewy after few hours in the frigde?
Thanks in advance
Hi kamila, The nuts will be the most crispy just after they are put on the cake.
im going to make this for my great grandmas 90th and we are going to gengis
with the family.
Hi Ann I was just wondering how long this cake would last once covered in ganache as I mostly work with ganache on my cakes and wanted to make the barbie cake with this cake?
Thanks you
Hi Pauline, this cake keeps beautifully for a 4-5 days, but as with all cakes fresher is better. If you are not serving the day after baking then I suggest using the simple syrup to ensure that it is super moist.
Hi Ann,I love ur videos.Will make the cake on my sons birthday. Can i use normal suger, instead of castor sugar?
Thanks !
Hi ani, yes you can, caster sugar is just a finer sugar so dissolves quicker in baking.
Hi Ann, can this cake be carved and covered in fondant (or will it collapse from the weight)? Awesome site btw and very helpful. Thanks in advance.
Hi diat, yes it can I have used it for 3d cakes before without a problem
Hi Ann, I am from Holland and I love your videos and blog. I want to make this cake for mothersday. I hope that mine cake wil turn out like yours. Thank you!
Ann your site is amazing. It inspires me to get baking!
Hey Ann 🙂
Im going to try out this lovely chocolate cake tomorrow.
But I’m still a bit worried cos the cakes I already
Baked with dark chocolate always were too bitter.
Can you tell me if its different with this one because
of the other ingredients such as much sugar and the cream?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Alice, Today is the day after you were to bake your cake, how did you go? Dark chocolate is quite intense but when it is ‘watered down’ by the other ingredients it just leave the chocolatey flavor.
Hi Ann,
how many people does this cake feed?
cheers
Hi Josep, That depends on your slice sizes, but it is a rich cake so you can serve fine slices and serve ten.
hi thank you ann
she loves vanilla cake do u have a recipe I could make this in a vanilla cake and how much icing suger do I need and vanilla on the cream? thank you so much..
Hello Ann,
I thought I am not good in making desserts but following your advises I made this hit cake couple of months ago 🙂 Tomorrow I am making another one for my father’s birthday.
Keep up the good work and thank you for sharing with all of us.
lovely Nataliya looks great thanks for uploading
I am planning to bake this cake for my boyfriend’s birthday.. I am not able to find 20cm pans.. i have only 26cm cake dish, Will it work with that, or should i change the measurements?
Hi dhivya, it will work just fine but will not be as tall.
Hi Ann,
I used around 2 tbl spoons of cream cheese, I didn’t want to add too much and make it running.
Hi Ann,
I made a Carrot cake and used the your decoration, with a dust of cinnamon on top of the buttercream. Hope you like it
Hi sharma, did you use buttercream or cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake? Carrot cake is one of my hubbies favorites. Looks yummy
Hi Ann! I’m writing from the U.S. and I just wanted to tell you that I love your videos and blog. I really enjoy the way you explain things, it makes it so much easier. Here is a pic of the cake I made, it was so fun and I took it to my grandmother as a surprise…she loved it! Thanks again and I look forward to your next creation!
Looks lovely Tina, so special that you made it for you grandmother : )