What separates a regular chocolate cake from a rich chocolate cake? It’s
the addition of unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate. This is because the
unsweetened chocolate contains cocoa butter and solids, which really
brings the flavor of cocoa powder to life. Making a rich chocolate cake
requires a little more effort than making a regular chocolate cake, but
is well worth the few extra steps.
To Make the Cake You Will Need:
225 g (8 ounces) of dark semi-sweet chocolate (around 50% cocoa
– try Ghirardelli’s)
140 g (2/3 cup) of butter
1 cup of sugar
4 medium eggs, room temperature
4 heaping tablespoons of all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda or 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons sour cream
To Make the Frosting You Will Need:
2/3 cup of whipping cream (not whipped cream) or heavy cream
260 g (9 ounces) of semi-sweet chocolate (50% cocoa), finely
chopped
How To Make The Rich Chocolate Cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).
Line a 25 cm (10 inch) round 8 cm deep (3 inches) cake pan with
non-stick baking paper and grease the cake pan. NOTE: You can use 2
smaller sized pans if you don’t have a larger one – the extra room will
be needed to allow the cake to rise.
Break the semi-sweet chocolate for the cake into small pieces and melt
it with the butter in a double boiler pan over hot water.
Beat the sugar into the eggs and mix in the flour, cocoa powder and
baking powder, and the vanilla extract. Carefully and slowly fold the
melted butter, the semi-sweet chocolate and the sour cream into the egg
mixture.
Place in the preheated oven and bake until you can insert a tooth pick
into the middle and it comes out clean. This should take around 45
minutes, but check it at around 40. It will take much less time if you
have divided the recipe into 2 smaller cake pans (closer to 25 minutes).
Remove the cake from the oven and leave it in the cake pan. Set it aside
to cool (best done on a cooling rack) until it has reached room
temperature. At this point you will need to place it in the refrigerator
for about a half hour or more, which will allow you to remove the cake
without it sticking to the pan.
There will be a crusted on the top of the cake; remove that, then cut in
the cake in half, horizontally. You will have a 2 layered cake.
How To Make The Rich Chocolate Frosting:
Heat the whipping cream in a sauce pan. Remove it from the heat and
add the chopped semi-sweet chocolate for the frosting and blend together
until the mixture is smooth. Allow it to cool until thickened.
To apply the frosting, separate it into 3 parts and apply 1 part to the
top, 1 to the sides, and 1 between the two layers.
Return the cake to the refrigerator for an hour or two to let the
frosting set. Afterwards, remove it and allow it to return to room
temperature before serving. If you want to, you can decorate your rich
chocolate cake with your favorite type of nuts.
