Baking 101: The Perfect Chocolate Cake

When it comes to baking, every cook should have a recipe for the perfect chocolate cake. Honestly, once you know how to bake a good chocolate cake, you will use it time and time again (think birthdays, celebrations and dinner parties).

This gooey chocolate fudge cake tastes divine and it is quick and easy to make. It’s simply a matter of mixing your ingredients and throwing it in the oven to allow it to work its magic by itself.

Here at Her.ie headquarters we love making this delicious cake on an otherwise boring Sunday evening. And hey, if you have children, this is also a good way to keep them occupied too. They’ll love helping you out in the kitchen and licking the spoon when you’re finished mixing.

Be warned, this recipe makes a massive cake so if you fancy something smaller, halve the ingredients and use one cake tin.

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Every cook should have a decent chocolate cake recipe in their portfolio

You Will Need:

For the cake:

2 teaspoons of sunflower oil

250g of self-raising flower

6 tablespoons of cocoa powder

2 teaspoons of baking powder

300g of sunflower margarine (not low fat spread!)

300g of soft brown sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

6 large eggs

Two 20cm round cake tins

For the icing:

150g dark chocolate

150ml double cream

Method:

Heat your over to 170C, 325F or gas mark 3.

Put the cake tins onto greaseproof paper and draw circles around them. Cut out the circles. Using some sunflower oil, brush all over the inside of both cake tins. Put the paper circles into both tins and brush over them with oil.

Next, sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and blend them together. In another large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and margarine together until they are creamy. It works better if you do all the mixing in this recipe by hand. When your mixture is creamy, add the vanilla essence and beat the mixture again.

Crack one egg into the bowl of margarine and add a tablespoon of the flour/cocoa/baking powder mixture to it as you do so. Beat it well. Repeat this step with each of the eggs.

When all of the eggs have been added, gently stir in the rest of the flour/cocoa/baking powder mixture. Stir in a figure of eight to keep the mixture light.

Next, spoon the mixture into the middle of both cake tins. Put the tins on the middle shelf of the over and cook for 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cakes when they’re cooked all the way through. Take them out of their tins and leave them to cool.

When they cakes are cool, it’s time to make the icing.

Break the dark chocolate into a heatproof bowl and add the cream.

Heat around 5cm of water in a pan until it starts to bubble gently.

Put the bowl containing the chocolate and cream into the pan and stir the chocolate as it melts. When it has melted, let it cool and then put it into the fridge to cool.

While the icing is cooling in the fridge, stir it a few times. This will help it to thicken. When it feels soft like butter, remove it from the fridge and start icing the cake.

Spread a third of the icing on one of the cakes, then sandwich the other cake on top of it. Finally, cover the entire thing with a thick layer of icing.

There you have it ladies, a decadent gooey chocolate cake that’s absolutely perfect for birthdays and other celebrations.