Love at first bite chocolate cake

Would you rather fall in love or fall in chocolate? It’s an age old question… Well the good news is, we would never make you choose. Yep, you can fall in both!

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

420g plain flour

140g cocoa powder (preferably dutch)

10g bicarbonate of soda

4 large eggs

300g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon of fine salt

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

400ml soured cream

125ml vegetable oil

375ml water

Vegetable spray oil

2 tablespoons plain flour (extra)

Ganache

400g dark chocolate

375ml pouring cream

To decorate

Farm fresh Wellington Point strawberries to decorate

Method

Preheat your oven to 145 degrees Celsius
Spray 3 x 8” cake tins with vegetable oil ensuring every part of the tin is coated in oil.
Using the extra flour, coat each greased tin, discarding any extra flour that hasn’t stuck to the tin.
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla using the whisk attachment on high speed until mixture is light and fluffy.
Add sour cream and oil and combine on medium/low speed until emulsified.
Add sifted cocoa powder, flour and bicarbonate of soda and mix on low speed to incorporate
add water slowly while continuing to mix, until the water is combined.
divide the batter evenly between three cake tins (650g per tin) and bake for 33 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool completely. Turn the cakes out and wrap well with glad wrap and place in the freezer.
To make the ganache, warm your cream in a saucepan until just before boiling point. Be careful not to overheat as scalding cream will affect the chocolate. Once warmed, add your chocolate and swirl saucepan to submerge chocolate as much as possible. Allow to sit without stirring for 1 minute.
Gently stir ganache mixture with a silicone spatula until mixture is deliciously glossy and smooth. Set aside to cool until the ganache is spreadable but not too liquid.
To assemble, remove cakes from freezer, unwrap and using a long serrated bread knife carefully trim the top of your cake to make it as flat as possible.
Place a dollop of ganache on your cake board, plate or stand and then set the first cake layer on top.
place 1/4 of the ganache on top of the cake layer and smooth using a spatula to the edge.
Place your next cake layer on top and repeat ganache/cake process until all cake layers are stacked.
Using the remaining ganache, carefully coat the top and sides of the cake until coverage is even.
Top with farm fresh Wellington Point strawberries

International Chocolate Day