chocolate raspberry layer cake
A few weeks ago I spent the day at home with a bad headache. As the headache eased, I realised I was bored so I decided to make some jam, as you do. I found some frozen raspberries in the freezer and in 20 minutes I had raspberry jam but I don't really eat jam, so what was I to do?
I'd bookmarked this Julia Turshen recipe for Happy Wife, Happy Life Chocolate Cake a while back and the layers are sandwiched together with raspberry jam. I used the recipe as my inspiration for this chocolate raspberry layer cake. Originally the cake was going to be a double layer cake but I kept cutting layers and suddenly I was making a triple layer cake.
I used my own chocolate cake recipe but used the sour cream filling and the chocolate ganache topping from Julia's recipe.
I thought the cake looked pretty good naked and was tempted not to ice the top layer but as I'd already made the ganache, I went ahead with this step.
Here's the recipe for you, which makes a triple layer cake. You should be able to make a double layer 8 inch cake with these quantities but the cooking time will be a bit less, maybe 45 minutes. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional gas oven so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.
Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
Cake
1 cup plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
¼ tsp baking powder
½ cup strong hot coffee
40g cocoa powder
125g room temperature unsalted butter, chopped
¾ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg
⅓ cup buttermilk
Filling
⅓ cup cream
⅓ cup room-temperature sour cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tbs caster sugar
½ cup raspberry jam
Raspberries for serving (optional)
Topping
65g dark chocolate, chopped
¼ cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tsp golden syrup
Method
Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease and line a 18cm round tin with baking paper. Sift the flour with the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix the coffee and cocoa together in a small bowl to make a paste, then set aside to cool.
Cream the butter and sugar together with the vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add the egg then mix the flour into the mixture alternating with the chocolate mixture and the buttermilk. You should be left with a creamy smooth chocolatey batter. Pour the batter into the prepared tin, smooth the top then place the tin onto the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake at 190° C for 1 hour to 1 and 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out dry. Leave the cake to cool completely before turning out onto a wire rack. While the cake is cooling, make the icing and the filling.
Icing
Melt the chopped chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between burst. Remove from the microwave and whisk in the room temperature sour cream and golden syrup. The icing should be smooth and quite silky. Refrigerate the icing which will thicken as it cools. If the icing seizes, just zap for a few seconds in the microwave to loosen the mixture
Filling
Whip the cream with the vanilla until stiff. Fold in the room temperature sour cream then sweeten to taste with the sugar. Slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers and spread the cake with the raspberry jam first before topping with the sour cream filling. If you like you can sprinkle a few raspberries over the cream before topping with the next layer. Top with the chocolate icing.
Store the cake in the fridge until serving time but allow to come to room temperature before serving.
I didn't get to try a slice of the cake but it was very well received and was all gone before lunch was over, which is always a good sign.
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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