Rich Chocolate Truffle Cake
A superb centrepiece and showstopper for any party or celebration. This glossy cake will hold its own at the most glamorous of occasions. Amazingly, this rich, dark chocolatey cake can be frozen with all the decorations in place, so it makes a fantastic freezer standby. For a more casual appearance, try topping with chocolate curls or drizzle with melted white chocolate instead. Psst... without the truffles, it also makes a delicious hot chocolate fudge cake, sliced into wedges and heated for a few seconds in the microwave until soft and gooey.
Ingredients
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 6-7 tbsp just-boiled water
- 225 g softened butter cubed, plus extra for greasing
- 225 g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 225 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
Chocolate icing
- 350 ml double cream
- 400 g plain dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
Decoration
- 12 chocolate truffles plain, white or milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5. Grease 20cm loose-based sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Put the cocoa powder into a bowl and stir in enough just-boiled water to make a smooth, fairly thick liquid. Leave to cool.
- Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and cocoa paste in a food processor and mix until thick and creamy. Do not allow to over blend or the cake will be heavy rather than light. If you don’t have a food processor, simply put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat hard with a wooden spoon until creamy and soft.
- Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared tins and smooth the surface. Bake on the same shelf in the centre of the oven for 23–25 minutes or until well risen and just beginning to shrink back from the sides of the tin.
- Remove the tins from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the cakes and turning out on to a wire rack. Peel off the baking parchment and leave to cool completely.
- To make the icing, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water until almost fully melted. Remove the bowl from the water using an oven cloth and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then gradually stir in the double cream until the mixture is soft and glossy.
- Place one of the sponges on a plate or cake stand, cut side up. Spread with roughly a quarter of the chocolate icing. Use a paddling motion with a palette knife or rubber spatula for the best result, trying to prevent the sponge from lifting.
- Cover with the second cake, cut side up. Spread the remaining icing all over the top and sides of the cake to cover the cake completely. Decorate with the chocolate truffles and leave to stand for 1 hour before serving.