Chocolate cake is an irresistible treat and a firm favourite for many people, but it can be deceptively difficult to make yourself. When making a chocolate cake it’s all too easy for it to turn dry or be overly dense, making the resulting bake somewhat disappointing. A dry and dense cake can be caused by various factors, including overmixing, overbaking or the wrong oven temperature, but it can also be a result of the ingredients you’re using.
Not having enough liquid in your cake can cause it to become dry, while cocoa powder with a low fat content can also result in a drier cake as it can absorb moisture while baking. But baking legend Mary Berry’s all-in-one method makes baking a chocolate cake “so easy” and one key ingredient will ensure the bake is deliciously light.
The former Great British Bake Off judge says you should start your bake by adding 50g of cocoa powder and six tablespoons of boiling water to a mixing bowl, and combine the ingredients until it forms a paste.
Then add in three eggs, 100g of baking spread or soft butter, 300g of golden caster sugar, 175g of self-raising flour, one teaspoon of baking powder and two tablespoons of milk.
Mary says she always adds the eggs first as the liquid helps to absorb the other ingredients, but the key thing is to make sure your butter is soft before you add it.
Soft butter is key for making a light and fluffy cake and ideally it should be at room temperature, as this allows it to emulsify and incorporate air more easily, which will make your cake lighter once it’s baked. The creaming of the butter and sugar is what gives your cake a fluffy texture, so make sure you do this thoroughly.
Explaining the process in a YouTube video, Mary says: “Now to the other ingredients. First of all, three eggs. I do them in this order because I find that the liquid egg helps to gather everything in.
“Then the next is the butter. Now this is really important that this butter is soft. If it’s oily it won’t make a good mixture, if it’s too hard it won’t blend easily.”
Once all the ingredients are in, simply “beat it until it’s beautifully smooth” and then distribute it evenly between two 20cm greased round baking tins, before baking for around 30 mins at 160C.
For the chocolate ganache topping, add 150ml of pouring double cream into a pan and heat until it’s almost boiling before adding 150g of dark chocolate, broken into small pieces, allowing the heat from the cream to melt the chocolate.
Ice the cake with a layer of apricot jam and half of the chocolate ganache, then sandwich together and top with another layer of jam and chocolate ganache.
Mary said: “For the final layer of icing, put all of it on at once in the middle, I find best. If it’s too runny, chill it a little bit more and then just spread it all over the top. If you don’t cool it enough it will drizzle down the sides.
“Maybe that’s how you like it but I’m just putting it on the top and then if you want further decoration you could put some white chocolate on top. You can get a potato peeler and make curls or just go across with a knife across the top.”
