Easter crowd pleasin’ rich chocolate cake

Does festive baking transform you into a trembling, twitching nervous wreck?

Join the club

There’s something about baking for the holidays the renders me a complete kitchen mess. It must be the pressure, because without fail the moment I set my mind to preparing festive treats all my baking sense goes out the window.

I forget to warm eggs & butter to room temperature, I pour boiling milk over yeast & then rest dough in full sun. I even occasionally pull roasting pans from the oven without oven mitts (yes that has really happened in the heat of a holiday cooking tizz) I scream at loved ones & run around barefoot with knives.

By Saturday night I was getting a little desperate to produce something for the blog, for the big Easter lunch & for my sanity, there are only so many kitchen disasters my little heart can bear & it dawned on me, Why do I do this to myself? The only person turning the pressure up is me! My family & friends couldn’t care less about having the perfect balance of cinnamon to candied orange zest in ones hot cross bun, they just want something yummy and chocolatey for Easter to stuff in their faces as quickly as possible.

Introducing this easy peasy Easter decorated rich chocolate cake.

It’s not quite a mud cake so you can go back for seconds, but it is very rich & satisfying. I used half milk chocolate & half dark chocolate purely because the people I hoped to impress most were children. You can use whatever kind of chocolate you prefer. The best thing is it is just a chocolate cake with some festive decorations, you can decorate it for any occasion you like.

Don’t be alarmed when it sinks a little in the center, it’s not the prettiest of cakes but it is very tasty.

On a side note I am officially doing work experience at The Flower Garden in Bundall which is wonderful. I spent Saturday morning working & made some really beautiful arrangements that I was so proud of. The team are so welcoming & supportive, I couldn’t be more happy.

Mr Bake & Bloom is currently in Prague with his buddy, drinking cheap beer & quietly mocking me (I swear I can hear him mocking me) It is a bit of a worry because he almost always comes home with large chunks of flesh missing when he goes out for a boys night in his hometown. I can’t imagine what he is getting up to over there.

Now that I have mentioned large chunks of missing flesh…here is the recipe. Yummm

Rich Chocolate Cake with Ganache Glaze & Easter Nest

(Adapted from Taste.com.au)

Ingredients:

• 100g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 100g good quality milk chocolate, chopped
• 200g butter, softened
• 1tbsp vegetable oil
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 organic eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

For the ganache:

• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup thickened cream
• 1/2 tsp butter

For the decoration:

• 2 Cadbury flake bars
• Candy coated Easter eggs

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line base and side of a 6cm deep, 22cm  round cake pan.
2. Place chocolate in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on MEDIUM  for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add melted chocolate. Beat until well combined. Sift flour and cocoa together. Fold half the flour mixture into butter mixture. Add half the milk. Stir gently to combine. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, milk, oil & salt. Spoon into prepared pan. Smooth surface. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging.
4. Stand cake in pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make chocolate ganache: Heat cream in the microwave or a double boiler until almost boiling. Pour over the chocolate & butter in a heat safe bowl & stir until it looks like sexy chocolate lava (I am very technical I know) Allow to cool & refrigerate until it is a stiff pourable consistency (about 40 minutes in the fridge)
6. To decorate, pour ganache over the top of the cake & spread, allowing some ganache to ooze over the edges. Make a nest out of pieces of flake bar & add the little eggs. Refrigerated until ganache is set.

Serves 12

I think there’s something about just baking a cake that is so relaxing rather than making traditional holiday treats. What are your holiday kitchen saviors?