Birthday Cake Archives - Gimme The Recipe - You came for the food now stay for the romance!

Chocolate Cake

Why not make your next weekend special for no reason other than you deserve to have some delicious cake every now and then. I like to sneak some chopped raspberries into the cake mixture for extra moistness and we all fight to lick the icing bowl and spoons. While you really ought not to eat raw cake mixture I always do and beaters and spatulas become lollipops. The cake mixture contains a full bar of chocolate as does the rich chocolate butter icing making this a very chocolatey chocolate cake.
While the pictures below are very similar, I couldn’t choose between them or leave any out, after all one can never have enough cake.

You will need:
150g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate
200g caster sugar
200g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
12 raspberries for cake mix
Raspberries to decorate
Blueberries to decorate
Chocolate icing (see below), fresh cream and raspberry jam to decorate
You will need – for Rich Chocolate Butter Icing:
100g dark chocolate (70%)
250g icing sugar
25g unsalted butter (approximately 1 heaped tbsp.)
3 tbsp hot water

Method for Chocolate Cake:
Preheat the fan oven to 170^oC/Gas mark 5.
Grease and line two round cake tins (20cm or 8”) with a little butter and parchment paper.
Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together.
Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave and mix in with the butter and sugar.
Sift the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl and set aside.
Beat the eggs in a bowl and add about a third to the butter and sugar mix followed by about a third of the flour. Continue adding the egg and flour alternating until all are added. Mix in 12 roughly chopped raspberries and mix well.
Divide the mixture between the two cake tins.
Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes, testing with a skewer to see if baked, if any wet mixture clings to the skewer return to the oven for a further 5 minutes and test again.
Allow the cakes to cool for ten minutes or so before removing from tins to cool on wire rack tray before icing.

Method for Rich Chocolate Butter Icing :
100g dark chocolate (70%)
250g icing sugar
25g unsalted butter (approximately 1 heaped tbsp.)
3 tbsp hot water
Break up the chocolate into a bowl and microwave it on low power for 1 to 2 minutes until melted.
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the melted chocolate.
Add the butter and hot water and beat well with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Keep beating as you add in the hot water to make a smooth icing.

Layer some raspberry jam and freshly whipped cream to sandwich the cake together.
Pour the chocolate butter icing over the top and use a spatula to smooth over and down the sides of the cake.
Decorate with fresh berries.

Indulge & Enjoy.
‘Til next time, Sheila

When the birthdays come around in our house and I ask what type of cake they would like me to bake the answer is always the same – “Chocolate!”. They get that from me. My favourite ice-cream is also chocolate, and it would be the dessert I would first look for on a menu. I love chocolate ice-cream with green grapes or pears smothered in chocolate sauce, preferably hot. I love chocolate truffles, minstrels, flakes and buttons to name a few. I love the movie ‘Chocolat’ too, especially the part when the mayor of the town breaks down and has a gorge fest of chocolate. (Then of course it does also have Johnny Depp…)
So last weekend being my twin girls 11th birthday (Daire & Eimear) I had an excuse to melt a couple of bars of Lindt chocolate and mix it with some double cream to cover the cake and some strawberries. Divine.
For The Cake You Will Need:
200g unsalted butter
200g self raising flour
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp cocoa powder
For Icing:
2 bars chocolate min 30% cocoa solids
150ml double cream
strawberries, raspberries, Cadbury’s flake & buttons
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C. Grease two round cake tins with some butter and line the base of each with a round of parchment paper.
Use an electric mixer to soften the butter and then add the sugar and beat well.
Add one egg to the mix then some flour and continue doing so until all eggs and flour are added and mixed.
Add the cocoa powder and mix well.
Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, (test with a skewer to see if baked)
Remove cake from tins and allow to cool on a wire rack before decorating.
To decorate melt some chocolate with double cream and fill the centre with this mixture and some fruit (sliced raspberries or strawberries) drizzle the remainder all over the cake and decorate with your favourite fruit and chocolate sweets.
Enjoy.
Til next time. Sheila