Moist Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream & Ganache

IngredientsFor the cake

• Plain Flour (Maida) – 1¾ cups
• Sugar – 2 cups
• Cocoa powder – ¾ cup
• Baking powder – 1½ tsp
• Baking soda – 1½ tsp
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• Eggs – 2 (room temp)
• Oil – 1 cup (I used sunflower)
• Boiling water – 1 cup
• Milk – 1 cup ( I used room temp)

For Chocolate Buttercream

• Unsalted butter – 1 cup (226 gms), softened
• Icing sugar – 3½ – 4 cups
• Cocoa powder – ½ cup
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• Whole milk/ whipping cream – 4 tbsp

For Ganache

• Whipping/heavy cream – ¼ cup + 2 tbsp
• Chocolate chips – ¾ cup ( you can use baking chocolate also)

For Sugar syrup

• Sugar – ⅓ cup
• Water – ⅓ cup

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven @180 C, 10 mins before baking.
2. Mix together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder & baking soda. In a deep vessel, mix together essence, eggs, oil, boiling water & milk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients & mix with a hand whisk or a wooden spoon, till the batter is mixed well.
3. Pour into a greased baking tin lined with parchment paper or cupcake tin lined with cupcake liners. Bake in the preheated oven till the tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Baking time is given in the notes.
4. Butter Cream Preparation
5. Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer. Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.
6. Ganache Preparation
7. Heat the whipping/heavy cream till small bubbles start appearing around the edges. Switch off the gas. Add chocolate chips to the cream & let it rest for 5 mins. After 5 mins, whisk till it becomes smooth.
8. Sugar Syrup Preparation
9. Mix together water & sugar. Heat it till the sugar dissolves & let it boil. Remove from fire. Let it cool completely.
10. Assembling of the cake
11. The cake has to be cooled completely before icing. I cut each cake into two layers, to have a four layered cake. Place one of the cut cakes on a cake board & brush it with sugar syrup, make sure the entire cake is brushed. Place some butter cream on top of it & spread using a spatula. Repeat the process till all the layers are used. After the top layer is placed is covered with buttercream, apply the butter cream around the sides as well. Once this is done, keep the cake in the fridge for 20-30 mins. Make the ganache in the meanwhile & let it cool & thicken a bit.
12. Take the cake from the fridge & cover it with ganche. Decorate as per your liking. Return the cake to the fridge.
13. Keep the cake @ room temp for 20 mins, before serving.

Notes

For the cake shown in the pic, I made only half the qty of the above recipe. Got two 7 inch round cakes. I baked the cakes @ 180 C for 30 mins. The cupcakes will be ready in 15 mins. I’ve got 3 dozens standard size cupcakes with the quantity mentioned above. Icing notes: Since I wanted to keep aside some icing for decoration, I added cocoa powder only in the end. Pour the ganche over the cake, only after the butter cream is set. To know whether the cream is set, touch it with your finger and see whether the cream is sticking, if not, its ready. I kept the butter cream covered cake on a wire rack and placed a sheet of al.foil under it. I poured the ganache over the cake. Do the decorations on the cake, when ganche is half set. I used Al Marai Whipping cream to make the ganache. You can store the frosted the cake in refrigerator for 2 days. The plain cake can be stored @ room temp, in an air tight container for 3-4 days.