Recipe - Chocolate Bundt Cake

February has a reputation for being the hottest month on the calendar over here in Cape Town, and though I had all good intentions of making my favourite summer cheesecake to share on the blog last month; the soaring temperatures and unbearable heat waves left me ducking and diving out of the kitchen!! I honestly did not even feel like cooking!!!

But alas, Autumn has arrived, and though I'm sure our hot days are far from over, this past Sunday was cool enough for me to venture back into the kitchen and do some baking.

The recipe I chose to make was this Chocolate Bundt Cake that caught my eye on the Pomegranate Days Blog. Samantha Taylor is the blogger behind Pomegranate Days and she is as crafty with her words as she is with her culinary skills!! Inspired by her post where she says "I pinned it and then I actually made it!", referring to her obsession with pinning recipes on Pinterest, I figured  there is no better way to honour one's favourite food blogger than to actually try out a recipe, and this is one I had been eager to try out ever since she posted it! 

The thing about Chocolate Cake is, once you have found the perfect recipe, you don't have the need to try anything new. Samantha dared to say that this was the "little black dress" of chocolate cakes, and I was curious to see how it measured up to my own recipe.

My first attempt at this recipe was on Thursday for my sister to take along to work. I made the mini Bundt version...and although luxuriously soft, moist, rich and decadent; I found it slightly salty. I reduced salt on my second attempt, and the result was just pure perfection!

Overall, I wasn't disappointed, although husband and son were undecided as to whose recipe is better, citing 'too close to tell the difference' as an actual reason! It was easy to follow and extremely quick to mix, which is absolutely perfect for those days when you are in a hurry; without compromising texture and flavour. No more halving my recipe to fit a Bundt pan...from now onwards, the Bundt pan shall be reserved for authentic Chocolate Bundt Cake ;-)  Here is the recipe...

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tblsp strong coffee

• 3/4 cup cocoa

• 2 whole eggs

• 1 egg yolk

• 2 1/4 cups sugar

• 1 1/4 tsp salt (I just used a 1/4 tsp)

• 2 1/2 tsp bicarb

• 1 1/4 cup plus 1 Tblsp Buttermilk

• 1 cup plus 2 Tblsp oil

• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

• 2 1/2 cups plus 2 Tblsp Cake Flour

GANACHE :

• 200ml fresh cream (I also use a small tin of Nestle cream instead of fresh cream)

• 200gr plain chocolate

METHOD :

1. Whisk the cocoa powder into the strong coffee. Allow to cool.
2. Whisk together eggs, yolk, sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda on low speed for 1 minute.
3. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla essence. Mix for 1 min.
4. Add Flour and mix on medium speed for 2 min.
5. Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 min. The batter will be loose.
6. Pour into a large Bundt pan  that has been sprayed with non stick spray and bake for 1 hr for large bundt and 25 min for the mini Bundt tray.
7. Sam says to leave cake to cool in pan. I was impatient and turned it out within 5 min...it survived!
8. Meanwhile, make ganache by bringing cream to a boil, removing from heat and then adding the broken up pieces of chocolate to it and leaving it to melt.  Leave to stand for 2 min. Whisk the chocolate and cream together until well blended.
9. I usually just add everything in a bowl and heat it in the microwave for about a minute. I also used the Nestle cream on this occasion. The fresh cream has a richer taste, but the nestle cream has a thicker consistency which makes it easier to spread.
10. Leave the ganache to stand at room temperature and whisk every 10 minutes or so until it thickens. Once ganache is thick enough use back of spoon to glaze over cake. This process is much quicker with the nestle cream. Also bare in mind if you are using fresh cream, if the mixture it not thick enough, it will absorb into the cake and you will not get that thick chocolatey coating!!

Mini Bundt cake...

 



 

 

These 2 young ladies got all dressed up for a Garden themed Tea-party photo shoot, only to have it ruined by the rain! 

Thanks Sam, for sharing this recipe!
( See her post with her recipe here )
 
Happy Baking Everyone!
 
Peace,
 
NAMU :)