My husband grew up on this cake. My mother in law, Ida, would make it frequently when Kristian was a child. She would make a big cake at the start of the week and pack little slices into the kids' lunch boxes as a special treat.
The first time I had this cake, I immediately fell in love with it. It is literally the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten! So moist and delicious, it can be made with a basic chocolate icing, or no icing at all. But it is a chocoholic's dream when teamed with chocolate ganache.
Ida's cake always looks beautiful, especially when made as a celebration cake. I made this particular cake for my brother's beautiful girlfriend, Amy, who celebrated her birthday today.
My favourite thing about food is watching others enjoy and appreciate it and everyone absolutely enjoyed this cake!
SERVES 12
For the cake:
375g self raising flour
375g caster sugar
6 tbs cocoa
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
200g unsalted butter, melted
For the ganache:
200g dark chocolate
200ml cream
Preheat oven to 180˚C fan-forced. Grease and line a 20cm round, 9-10cm deep cake tin.
In a large bowl sift flour, sugar and cocoa together, three times.
Add the eggs and milk and mix.
Slowly pour in the melted butter and stir until smooth and well combined.
Pour batter in prepared cake tin and cook for 45- 50 minutes.
Test the cake with a skewer. If it is still a bit sticky in the centre, this is ok. Just take it out of the oven and cover with a tea towel. It will continue cooking in the hot tin and you will end up with a lovely, moist cake.
While the cake is cooking, you can make the ganache. In a heat proof bowl, add the cream and chocolate. Place the bowl over a pot 1/3 full of boiling water. Keep the pot on a low flame so the water simmers. Stir the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate melts and you are left with a deliciously silky ganache.
Once the cake and ganache are cool, you can spread the ganache all over the cake. Top with extra chocolate of your choice (I used flake and extra grated chocolate) and decorate with flowers or fruit, such as strawberries.