Fantastically Chocolately Cake No. 002

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 box Betty Crocker Devils Food Chocolate Cake
• 250Ml Beer (preferably a strong bitter or stout. This recipe used Mauldons Black Adder)
• 3 Large Eggs
• oil (NOT olive!)
• 100g good quality chocolate
• Flour (small quantity to line the cake tins)

For the topping

• 2 packets Cadburys Minieggs
• 1 Cadburys Double Decker
• 1 packet Galaxy Minstrels
• about 350g double or whipping cream
• 400g good quality chocolate (we used about 200g white and 200g dark)
• Icing Sugar (small quantity)

You will need

• A whisk, preferably electric
• 2 flat cake tins or one large cake tin
• Baking paper to line the cake tins
• About 2 hours!

Directions

1. Prepare the chocolate:
   • From the 500g chocolate, you will need about 50g grated and the remainder broken into small chunks 
   • Cut the Double Decker into very small pieces, no more than about half a cm in diameter.
      
2. Follow the instructions on the box to make the Betty Crocker Devils Food Chocolate Cake, BUT:
   • Use the 250Ml Beer instead of 250Ml water.
   • Add the grated chocolate into the mix
   • Once the cake has been mixed, and poured into the tins ready to cook, carefully drop an even layer of minstels and about 100 g desert chocolate, broken into chunks.
      
3. While the Cake is cooking, make the Chocolate Ganache’s used to top and fill the cake:
    
   The topping is made from good old traditional Chocolate Ganache – here is a recipe from http://www.sallys-place.com/food/columns/williams/choc_ganache.htm  Luscious Chocolate Ganache

   8 oz/250 g Heavy cream or whipping cream
   8 oz/250 g Couverture or the best quality, semi-sweet chocolate you can find

   Place cream in a saucepan over high heat and bring just to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Meanwhile, chop chocolate into small pieces. Place a damp towel on your counter, place pan of hot cream on the towel then add chopped chocolate to the cream. Beat chocolate and cream vigorously until thoroughly mixed. The mixture will solidify as it cools. The time it takes to cool will vary depending on the room temperature and temperature of your pan. You may place the pan in a larger pan of ice water to cool the mixture just until it comes to spreading consistency. Remove from the ice bath at this point to make sure it doesn’t harden too much. Use this mixture as a filling between cake or cookies.

   A very simple but sinful dessert — top a brownie or pound cake square with a scoop of ganache, then drizzle with a fruit or caramel sauce.

   The Filling is the most delicious cake filling I have tasted in a long time -

Double Decker Ganache

100g Double or whipping cream – but leave a couple of spoonfuls of cream for later!
1 Double decker, broken into small pieces
50g chocolate (we used white)

4. Put the cream into a microwaveable bowl and microwave until the cream is  quite hot.  Then add the double decker and chocolate and stir until the chocolate parts have all melted and you just have some of the nougat forming small lumps in the cream.  Put the mixture into the fridge to cool and go and watch TV or something until it is quite cold. Once it is, whisk the mixture on a fairly high setting until the cream is thick and spreadable – your filling is ready!
    
5. WARNING! At this point I should mention that the cake WILL go mountainous in the oven – I think its the beer – and will tend to have a crusty bit that you will need to cut off! This is not a bad thing, since it means you get to check how chocolately it tastes before you add the topping and filling! – TIP OF THE MOMENT – if the cake is not chocolately or sweet enough, try using Delia Smiths Chocolate Fudge brownie mix (available from Amazon) while still not quite set – it will ooze into the cake and make a really delicious, if rather sticky, chocolate cake pudding – not quite suitable for a formal occasion, but absolutely scrummy!
    
6. Once the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool.
    
7. Once it has cooled, cut off the burnt bits (not often you’ll read that in a recipe! ;).  If you have used a single cake tin, cut the cake into two halves, ready to be filled.  If you have used two cake tins, put the bottom half of the cake upside down on the plate ready to decorate, with the “rough” side face down – it makes decorating easier!
    
8. Melt the remaining 100g chocolate with the remaining spoonfuls of cream, stirring to make a smooth paste, and spread this as a thin layer over the “inner” two sides of the cake, so there will be a layer of crunchy chocolate on either side of the filling.
    
9. Wait for the chocolate to harden slightly, then spread the double decker ganache on top of the bottom layer of cake.  Then lower the top layer of cake onto it, wiggling it slightly to make sure it is secure.
    
10. Spread the Chocolate Ganache over the rest of the cake.  You may need to do a series of blobs over the cake and then spread it, since the ganache can get quite stiff. Once you have done the top, use your judgement to decide whether to coat the whole cake, as we did, or leave the sides open.
     
11. Arrange the chocolate mini eggs over the cake, together with any other fun toppings you have to hand – we used chopped nuts and edible glitter.  Then dust the sides of the cake with icing sugar.

Recipe Links (from Amazon, I make a small (tiny) commission if you buy from this page :) )

 Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook:
200 Chocolate Recipes
 
  

Delia’s Complete How to Cook 

 “Green and Black’s” Chocolate Recipes: from
the Cacao Pod to Muffins, Mousses and Moles