Tags

, , , ,

This Wednesday was my (our) tenth wedding anniversary.  I do have a few favourite chocolate cake recipes but wanted to try something new to a new beginning!

I had seen a chocolate rum and coconut cake in an old ‘Taste’ magazine and had fallen in love with the (picture of the) cake. It was perfect for the occasion! Dropped kids off at school and went straight to our local veggie shop. Picked up a fresh coconut (for the cake) and a bag of red onions (not for the cake).

Made quite a few changes to the recipe to satisfy my chocolate fancy!

Ingredients (for the cake)

450g chocolate (50% cocoa solids), broken into small pieces. The chocolate you use is important so use one you enjoy eating. The better the chocolate, the better the cake. I used Lindt, I love the smooth texture and tastes gorgeous.

125ml Jamaican rum

2tsp instant coffee powder (optional)

4 large eggs, separated

125g butter melted

80g self raising flour

75g caster sugar

I made 22cm cake and six generous muffins with this quantity. You can always make a bigger cake. Just make sure to give a few extra minutes to cook through.

Method (for cake)

Preheat oven to 190°C. Melt chocolate and rum in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, then stir until smooth and glossy. Stir through the instant coffee powder.

Cool to room temperature, stir through egg yolks and butter. Tip in the flour.

Meanwhile, whisk egg whites with electric beaters until soft peaks form, then, with motor running, gradually add sugar and whisk until smooth and glossy.

Fold the egg white mixture through the chocolate mixture, a little at a time. Pour into buttered and baking paper-lined 22inch round cake tin and muffin tray and bake until risen (20-22 minutes).

The muffin would be ready in 10-13 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack, then turn out of tin.

I could not wait till I had taken the picture. I had to taste one! As to how it tasted, a fudgey outer and a spongy inside. It tasted a lot like a flourless chocolate roulade I had once made, only better! Very chocolaty, a must for chocolate lovers (me) and very rummy

Don’t leave the cake in the oven for too long. The cake should be just cooked, so it needs to be tested frequently towards the end of its cooking time. Once cooked, the outer crust will quickly start to burn.

The cake should take 20-22 minutes. I should know for sure but I don’t, because I ate one more of the chocolaty muffin and was so busy with it, I forgot about the cake in the oven. Left it for a bit longer (28minutes and embarrassed) and burned the sides.

Anyways, no harm was done. A clever little serrated knife, and a bit of scrapping, saved the cake!

Ingredients (for the ganache)

300g good quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces. The recipe calls for at least 60%cocoa solids, but if kids are around, they may prefer something sweeter. If you want to use a bittersweet chocolate, you may want to use half bittersweet and half milk chocolate.

Generous splash of Jamaican rum

Shaved coconut to serve

Method (for ganache)

Heat cream to almost a boil and pour over chocolate. Let it stand for 2-3 minutes and then stir until you see a smooth glaze. Stir through rum. Cool to room temperature.

The recipe says, the cake can be made in advance and will keep for up to a week stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Guess I will never know, this one did not see the end of the day! But I can tell you the ganache will keep for more than 10 days in the fridge in an airtight container.

My ganache is already in the fridge. I almost always have some in the fridge and I always have an excuse to whip some up. Sometimes I make ganache because I have to ice a cake and sometimes I bake a cake because I have some ganache in my fridge! Works equally well both ways 🙂

Bring the ganache to room temperature and smooth some over the cake. Another method of using ganache would be to use it as a glaze. For the glaze, warm the ganache a little, just enough to make it pourable and pour over the cake.

By evening, I had a change of mind and cut up the cake into three small rounds using a drink glass. Thought I could dress it up a bit. The remaining cuts of cake were no problem. They were gone before I finished icing the cake!

Found some cream cheese and black cherry concentrate in the fridge. Mixed them up, gave it a stir and used it as a filling for the cake. My kids love cherries. Me too. Fresh cherries would have been lovely, but this one tasted really good with the chocolate.

Took one round piece of cake and spread some of the filling. Put the second piece of cake on top of the first and again spread some of the filling. Covered it with the last piece of cake and poured the ganache to give a glossy top. Even though there was enough ganache to cover the cake and more, thought it would be interesting to let everyone have a peak at the filling!

Serve topped with shaved coconut!

This one was a winner. Though the cake looked a bit dry on the outside, the inside was incredibly soft and the filling and the ganache were the icing on the cake 🙂

Demolished in no time!

This was the perfect dessert to end a spectacular day! The cake tastes good even without the filling and would be a treat with the ganache (and a dollop of vanilla ice cream)!

Chocolate is best eaten at room temperature.