Pure Chocolate Cake (Or famously known as Death By Chocolate)

Our freezer would never be found without Ice Creams. Both my husband and I, and of course now our lil one, are voracious Ice Cream eaters. First few months after arriving in USA (those were the days when our daughter was not born); we used to try and taste each and every flavour of Ice Cream. We used to spend almost an hour researching and selecting the scrummiest one. One day while looking for a crate of Ice Cream I found one named ‘Death by Chocolate’. I automatically had a frown and a bitter smile and murmured myself- “what a name!!!!...so bad”. After returning home while keeping all the purchased items in their proper place, I found a crate of Death by Chocolate Ice Cream. My outraged soul thundered like a blast on my Husband. Totally unaware of the fact what was happening, my husband looked at me with a widely opened eyes and a surprised face. To clarify my anger I declared innocently – “Why did you buy this Ice Cream. I don’t want to die so early....” Hearing this, my husband just rolled on the floor with a wild laughter. And silly me, just then understood what a foolish statement I had made. But to tell the truth I still don’t like the title......

The day, I heard about Divya's  (http://divyascookbook.blogspot.com/) announcement on the Chocolate Cake Event, I started haunting for the scrumptious chocolate cake recipe (after baking two successful cakes my confident ‘I’ was impelling me to go for the next one.). A time came when I was just reading the ingredients and the method without seeing the title and the other detail. At last I got a recipe which just made me content and confident enough to prepare it for the event. With a winning smile, when I just looked at the other detail, I found that the title of the Cake is nothing but ‘Death by Chocolate’. All my energy and time were drained out to look for another recipe. So poor me, I lastly went for baking the same recipe for my Chocolate Cake.

Again the time has come to tell the next truth. Just after having the first bite of my own prepared Death by Chocolate cake, I really understood what actually meant by ‘Death by Chocolate’. The soft and creaminess of the cake just melted down in the mouth, giving the ultimate pleasure of savouring what a chocolate cake actually meant. No need to say that the scrumptious taste will just take you out of the world for few minutes. So that’s why might be it got a devil’s name.

Here I am with the recipe of 'Death by Chocolate' which I followed from Cacao Web and remoulded it in my way.

Ingredients:-

Before stating about the ingredients I should tell that I have used three kinds of frosting/icing - One for layering and the other two for covering.

The Cake:-

Semisweet chocolate-8 oz

Butter-1/2 cup

Sugar-2/3cup

Eggs-4

All purpose flour- 4 table spoons

Unsweetened cocoa powder- 3 table spoons

Baking Soda- 1 ½ tea spoon

Vanilla extract- 1 tea spoon

Sour cream- 4 table spoon

1st Frosting- used to layer the cake:-

I used the same frosting recipe which I used to bake my first cake “Imitation of Buche de Noel”. I liked the creamy tasty frosting so much that I was not able to control my craving to taste it again. Here I am attaching it once again-

Light tub Cream Cheese (Neufchatel) - 8 ounces

Confectioners’ sugar- 1 cup

Unsweetened cocoa powder- 1/3 cup

Vanilla extract- 1 tea spoon

Semi sweet chocolate (melted and cooled slightly) - 2 ounces

2nd Frosting- covering the cake (1st layer)

Heavy Cream- 1 cup

Confectioners’ sugar- ½ cup

Vegetable Shortening- 2 table spoon hipped

3rd Frosting- covering the cake (final)

Heavy cream or whipping cream-2/3 cup

Semisweet chocolate -9 oz

Method:-

A. Preparing the Cake:-

1. First beat the egg then slowly add sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla extract and sour cream all at a time. Fold all together in to a smooth batter.

2. Chop the chocolate; melt them by using a double boiler or in the Micro wave along with the butter. Don’t over heat the chocolate. Mix the butter and the melted chocolate in to a smooth paste. Add the chocolate paste in the cake batter. Fold all together nicely.

3. Pre heat the oven 350 F.

4. To bake the cake I have used two 8 ½ inch diameter circular baking pans. Grease the pans evenly then pour half of the batter in to one pan and the other half to the other pan. Even the surface level using a spatula and take out the extra bubbles by lightly stroking the pan on a firm surface.

5. Bake for 15- 20 mnts, until a toothpick pricked in comes out clean. Don’t over bake. The bottom of the cake burns very soon. So keep on checking and take out the cake from the oven immediate after it’s done.

6. Let the cakes cool in room temperature for 40-45 mnts.

B.Preparing the frosting layer:-

To prepare the frosting, in a bowl, place the cream cheese, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until just combined, increase speed to high and beat until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the melted chocolate (To melt the chocolate put them in to the microwave for a minute or so. Keep on checking that they should not get over melted or too hot); increase the speed to high and beat until smooth for 2-3mnts.

C.Layering the Cake:-

Bring out the two cakes from the pan. Place the first cake on the serving tray. Spread the frosting on the top of the cake and level evenly. Carefully put the second cake on it and put the whole cake in the refrigerator to set.

D. Preparing the other two Frostings:-

1. Take the “2nd Frosting- covering the cake (1st layer)” ingredients. Beat the cream on slow speed and slowing mix the sugar and shortening. Keep the beater on till the cream starts to form peaks and looks shinny.

Take out the cake from the refrigerator and cover all the sides and top with the whipped cream and put it in the fridge to set at least for an hour.

E. Third and last part of the cake:-

1. Take all the left ingredients (3rd Frosting- covering the cake).

2. Heat the 2/3cup heavy cream or whipping cream in a sauce pan.

3. Remove from heat, add 9 oz of finely chopped dark semisweet chocolate, stir until smooth, and let it cool until it thickens.

4. Finally cover the whole cake with this chocolate sauce. Put the cake the fridge for an hour and then serve.

My dissatisfactory part:-

Though my cake is ready, there is something to share with all. Everything was going very well. When I was on the last stage of the preparation, that’s heating the cream and adding the chocolate, I found that the baking chocolate had become out of stock. As far as I remembered I had another pack of baking chocolate, but I didn’t find it anywhere. Cursing on my poor memory just made the sauce with the so called left over chocolates. So got the liquid chocolate sauce instead the thicken one.
 Now the most agony part- my daughter and husband just jump on the cake to devour it giving me no time to decorate. Thankfully I just got the chance to take few snaps and no need to say, all the plans to decorate my cake just sank in vain. (Though all the blame I passed on my hubby and my daughter, invisibly a powerful force was also working behind them to grab the cake and taste it. Its none other but me.... :( .Greedy me....ha-ha)

Best Part:-

My liquid chocolate sauce went great with the cake. It had given the impression of a viscous and at the same time a running chocolate fountain falling down from the body of the cake. It tasted best the next day when it was fully set resting in the fridge whole night. So this time also I was able to deliver a successful cake (may be not successful in the proper sense). But taste wise I was totally satisfied.

Now came to confess the last truth. Again my skeptical mind denied accepting the title- “Death by Chocolate”. So here I am with a new simple title for my cake- “Pure Chocolate cake”. Those, who are in my group, are welcome and those,who are not, they are welcome too....Enjoyyyyy..

Sending this recipe to "The Best Chocolate Cake” event, hosting by Divya.