This my new favourite chocolate cake recipe again! I love it because it is SO simple – one bowl in the food processor or a stand mixer. I posted a fancy version with layers and meringue buttercream recently. This time it’s a more basic version suitable for crowds.
On this Queen’s Birthday weekend in June, I’m cooking for a crowd. So I’ve made the basic recipe in a big cake tin and a half size in a smaller tin, to accommodate kids and adults at our gathering. A chocolate buttercream icing and some home-made honeycomb – bliss!
I’m including both quantities in Ingredients. The Method is the same for both cakes – just throw it all in and mix!
Ingredients – Big Cake
2 cups sugar
3 cups self raising flour
2 tsps sifted bi-carbonate soda
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g really soft butter
1 cup natural yoghurt
3 free range eggs
1 cup hot coffee (instant or brewed)
Ingredients – Small Cake
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups self raising flour
1 tsp sifted bi-carbonate soda
375 g Dutch cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g softened butter
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
2 free range eggs *
1/2 cup hot coffee (instant or brewed)
*It’s hard to halve 3 eggs – putting 2 eggs in this cake just adds to the moisture of the cake.
Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Grease a 23cm (9″) x 34cm (13″) rectangular cake tin and a 20cm (8″) square cake tin with butter and line with baking paper. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until just combined and the mix is smooth. Be careful not to overmix as this will toughen the cake.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins and smooth the tops. Bake for 1 hour or less – until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Keep both cakes in their tins until they are cool. Carefully turn out on to a wire rack. Or you can leave in the tins as I did to make it easier to transport the cakes.
Ingredients – Buttercream Big Cake
Ingredients – Buttercream Small Cake
Method
Put all the ingredients into a stand mixer and beat, first on low, then gradually increase the speed, beating until all the ingredients have amalgamated and the mixture has that “buttercream” consistency.
Home-Made Honeycomb
160g caster sugar
25g honey
62g glucose
2 tsp bi-carbonate soda
Dark chocolate, melted, to decorate
Method
Combine sugar, honey, glucose and 60 mls water in a saucepan. Cook till pale blonde – 150 degrees C, using a cooking thermometer.
Remove from the heat, add bi-carbonate soda and beat vigorously for a few seconds.
Pour onto a tray lined with baking paper. When the honeycomb has hardened, drizzle with melted dark chocolate and break some into chunks and pulverize the rest.
To assemble
Ice the cakes with the buttercream frosting and decorate with chunks and pulverized bits of honeycomb.
The Quirk and the Cool 