Chocolate cake - Gâteau au chocolat

I'm not going to lie, this was supposed to be a two-layer cake but...let's just say my cat decided otherwise when he decided to jump on one of the layers which was cooling down. I decided to include the recipe though, because this cake is easy to make and surprisingly moist, a quality I think most of the frosted chocolate cakes lack. I include the recipe for two layers, but feel free to adjust it if you wish to make it a one-layer cake...whether you have a cat or not :-)

Serves 6/8 people

Prep time : 40 mn + 2/3 hours for the icing to cool down - Cooking time : 25 mn (for one layer)

Difficulty : *

Specific baking equipment needed :

- one 22 cm/ 9 in round spring-form cake tin

- one piping bag + one star tip (optional)

Ingredients :

For the cake

170 gr unsalted butter, room temperature

240 gr caster sugar

80 gr cocoa powder

30 cl whole milk

3 eggs

200 gr all-purpose flour

5 g (app 1 ½ teaspoon) baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

For the icing

120 gr bittersweet chocolate , chopped very coarsely

80 gr milk chocolate, chopped very coarsely

30 gr unsalted butter

20 cL double cream (heavy cream)

The cake

- Preheat your oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas 4.

- In a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a mixer, whisk together the butter and sugar, until light and creamy. (Picture 1)

- In a second bowl, mix together the cocoa powder and milk : you should obtain a thick batter. (Picture 2)

- Whisk the sugar + butter mixture into the chocolate batter. Whisk in the eggs, one by one.

- In a different bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt). Sift over the chocolate mixture and whisk to mix all the ingredients thoroughly. (Picture 3)

- Divide your batter into two (mine was around 1 kg (!) at this point, so I divided it in two portions of 500 gr). Grease your tin(s) and pour the batter. Bake for around 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool completely on a cooling rack.

The icing

- Melt the chocolate and butter, chopped in pieces, in a bain-marie, stirring regularly. Take the pan off the heat. (Picture 4)

- In a different saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. (Picture 5)

- Pour the cream into the chocolate, whisk vigorously and leave to cool down completely in the fridge. This might take up to 3 hours.

Don’t worry if the frosting is still quite runny after one hour or so, it will take a while to cool down and thicken. If you want to accelerate the process, just leave it in the fridge in a larger bowl filled with water and ice cubes.

- Spread half of the icing on the first layer of cake, place the second one on top, and spread the second half of the icing. You can also decorate your cake by piping some stars or roses with a piping bag with a star tip.