This cake is not for the faint hearted. Yes, I know I am meant to be resting and I did rest after my baking session. It is my husband's birthday in a couple of days and he wanted a full on chocolate cake that was rich and flavourful. I added chocolate mini eggs to the top of the cake for an Easter theme, and yet more chocolate, and used Green and Blacks Organic Maya Gold Dark Chocolate for the ganache which added another level of flavour with a little spice. Hubby was very happy indeed, he may have had more than a couple of pieces in the interests of proper taste testing. My 3 girls liked the cake too, as did our neighbours who were also drafted in as taste testers.
Chocolate Almond Easter Cake
300g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
250g Butter, diced
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
4 free range eggs
110g caster sugar
150g self raising flour
70g ground almonds
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan. Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin.
Combine the chocolate and butter in a bowl and place over a
saucepan of simmering water. Stir until
melted together, smooth and glossy. Set
aside to cool for 15 minutes.
Using electric beaters or a stand mixer, beat the vanilla, eggs,
sugar together for 5 minutes until pale
and thickened. Reduce the speed of the
mixer and slowly add the cooled chocolate mixture. Sift over the flour and ground almonds then
gently fold in until completely combined.
Pour the mixture into your prepared cake tin and bake for
45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set the cake aside to cool completely.
Chocolate Ganache
300g dark chocolate, I used
200ml double cream
Put the cream in a saucepan over a moderate heat. Heat until almost boiling, remove from the
heat and stir through the chocolate until a smooth mixture forms. Leave the ganache to cool until it reaches a
spreadable consistency.
I am entering this cake into the following blog challenges this month:
We Should Cocoa created by Chocolate Log blog and hosted this month by Rachel Cotterill, the theme is Easter
Love Cake hosted by JibberJabberUK, the theme is Springing into Easter
Let's Cook Sweet Treats for Easter hosted by Simply Food
Just one more photo to tempt you to try baking this cake!
Oh that looks so good! I shouldn't be reading this at 10pm as I want chocolate cake now! Thanks for linking up with this month's Love Cake.
ReplyDeletehow super! love the luscious ganache (I have to say I also melt the chocolate a bit to ease the making of it) and the pretty eggs. And almonds in cake are a great way to keep it nice and springy. lovely recipe
ReplyDeleteWo there, now that is one tempting looking chocolate cake Michelle!!!! My chocoholic husband would definitely approve. I really like the idea of putting almonds in the cake... I've got this on my Easter to bake list for next week :)
ReplyDeleteWow, looks super dense and super up my street! Love the idea of using the Maya Gold chocolate for a little touch of spice. Happy Birthday Mr Utterly Scrummy!
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, I know this may not be the most lady- like thing but I want to get my finger straight into that. Mmmmm xx
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing! I'd love to bake this for Easter but the only free time I've got is this weekend. Do you think it could be frozen (before adding the ganache)? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI can't see why not Anne-Marie :) Freeze the cake without cutting it in half then defrost and ganache.
DeleteExcellent, thanks :-)
DeleteOh yes please Michelle! That last shot almost finished me!
ReplyDeleteWhat a delicious looking cake! Love that you used Maya Gold G&B, that's my favourite chocolate bar.
ReplyDeleteThe texture of that cake looks fabulous - I so so so want a slice! Thanks for entering it into WSC :)
ReplyDeleteCan I make this into cupcakes?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you could, just cook them for less time. Not sure how many cupcakes it would make, quite a few I think.
DeleteThis looks awesome, i love almonds, so anything with them in gets my attention, thanks for sharing this...
ReplyDeleteSimon