Easter Dark Chocolate Cake
1 hr + 
8-12 
If you are entertaining this Easter and looking for the perfect Dark Chocolate Cake recipe that will stand out amongst all the inevitable chocolate eggs and colourful wrappings, then look no further! Charlotte White has created this dramatic chocolate celebration cake using Food Thoughts Organic Cacao Powder, Roasted Cacao Nibs and Luxury Dark Chocolate Chips. It has an intense chocolate flavour, a delightful whipped fudge frosting and is finished with a fashionable chocolate drip which is fun and easy to do. Charlotte wanted to ‘throw chocolate at it’ and she certainly did that with this Easter Dark Chocolate Cake. Replace the mini chocolate eggs with any other seasonal or occasional cake decoration and you’ll have the perfect showstopper cake for any special celebration!
Just need to point out that she did not want to be held responsible for any chocolate overdoses that may occur as a result of this recipe. Happy Easter everyone.
You will need
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE
- 330g Food Thoughts Luxury Dark Chocolate Chips
- 330g unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp instant coffee granules
- 240ml water
- 190g plain flour
- 190g self-raising flour
- 60g Food Thoughts Organic Cacao Powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- pinch of salt
- 720g caster sugar
- 6 eggs
- 165ml buttermilk
- 55ml vegetable oil
- 60g Food Thoughts Roasted Cacao Nibs
- FOR THE WHIPPED FUDGE FROSTING
- 225g Food Thoughts Luxury Dark Chocolate Chips
- 180ml double cream
- 115g golden syrup
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE DRIP & DECORATION
- 150g Food Thoughts Luxury Dark Chocolate Chips
- 100g unsalted butter
- mini chocolate Easter egg
- selection of Easter treats
- YOU WILL NEED
- 3 x 8” round sandwich cake tins
Method
Preheat oven 160⁰C / 325⁰F / Gas Mark 3.
FOR THE CAKE: Begin by melting the dark chocolate chips and butter in a large saucepan with coffee granules and water, over the lowest heat that you can, until only a few small lumps remain.
Combine flours, Cacao Powder, bicarb, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir all together into one dry mix.
In a jug, fork together eggs, buttermilk and oil until combined. Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix until you have the start of a thick paste.
Pour the melted chocolate mixture onto the dry paste and mix to combine into a thick and glossy chocolate batter.
Add the Roasted Cacao Nibs, which will be like a cross between chocolate chips and nuts when baked into this chocolate cake.
Divide the mixture evenly between 3x 8” sandwich cake tins, each one lined with baking parchment.
Bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a cocktail stick comes out with just a few crumbs but no wet batter attached to it. Allow these cakes to cool completely in their tins before turning out for decorating.
FOR THE FROSTING: Put the chocolate chips aside in a heatproof bowl.
Gently heat cream and syrup together until just below boiling point.
Pour the hot cream mixture onto the chocolate chips and stir until combined with no lumps remaining.
Set the frosting aside to cool, uncovered, in the fridge until room temperature. This should take around 30 minutes.
Whisk the cooled filling until light and fluffy. Use this to sandwich your layers of cake together and to cover the top and sides. Aim to get the sides as neat as you can using either a large palette knife or a side scraper if you have one.
Pop the cake in the fridge to firm up while you make the chocolate drip.
DRIP & DECORATION: Prepare a dark chocolate ganache by melting dark chocolate chips in a bowl set over a pan of gently boiling water.
Once the chocolate is melted, add unsalted butter a few cubes at a time until all is incorporated.
Take your bowl of melted ganache off the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes before using. You want the ganache to be runny but not piping hot.
To create the drip effect, remove your cake from the fridge (hopefully its frosting layer is nice and firm) and carefully spoon small amounts of ganache to drip over the top edge of the cake. Gravity will pull the ganache down the sides of the cake so be sparing. Work your way around the top edge, spooning varying amount of ganache and watching the drips form.
Once you have been around the edge, spoon a nice dollop of ganache onto the top of the cake and spread it out to join the edge.
To decorate, stand a small chocolate Easter egg (the kind that comes in two halves) on the top of the cake and create the illusion of smaller treats falling out of its centre. This cake will never look the same twice and I guarantee that your guests will not be able to take their eyes off it at your Easter table!
Extra Fun! I gently pressed the open edges of each half of chocolate Easter egg onto a warm frying pan to melt them, before pressing them into sprinkles. This made the edges stand out so attractively amongst a sea of chocolate!
