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Original poster

Chocolate birthday cake that tastes and looks bloody lovely. Recipes please.

52 replies

PippiL · 26/02/2012 22:19

I do cakes, so anything tricky wont be beyond me.

Normally I do a buttermilk cake for birthdays covered in sugarpaste, but want something more grown up for dd's birthday.

Am thinking of going down the g'nash route ;)

Tried and tested recipes would be greatly appreciated.

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MrsKitty · 26/02/2012 22:24

This tastes lovely, especially when filled with fresh strawberries, and could easily be made a bit more 'grown up'.

TeaOneSugar · 26/02/2012 22:26

I made Nigella's old fashioned chocolate cake for a birthday today and it was devine, went down really well.

Original poster
PippiL · 26/02/2012 22:27

Thanks Mrs. I like the sound of milk and cream in the mix...but there is no chocolate in it. Might have to try an experiment though because it looks nice and dark.

I normally don't like cocoa only cakes.

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Original poster
PippiL · 26/02/2012 22:29

Hmm, another cocoa only one! Though I have had success with sour cream in chocolate cakes before.

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tkband3 · 26/02/2012 22:31

Another vote here for Nigella's old-fashioned cake...I made it for all my DDs birthdays last year and it really is fantastic. I make the icing all the time now for all sorts of cakes - the golden syrup in it makes it really lovely.

MrsKitty · 26/02/2012 22:33

I'm not usually keen on cocoa only cakes either, but I promise you, the Dan Lepard one is delicious (and easy enough to make that you could easily make one 'just to eat entirely by yourself see

mrspink27 · 26/02/2012 22:34

The Lorraine Pascale recipe looked good but it is another cocoa only one...

tkband3 · 26/02/2012 22:34

Alternatively, Jamie Oliver's party cake (from the Return of the Naked Chef) is also fab. I can't find the recipe on-line, but would be happy to type it up in the morning if you're interested. It's a lovely light chocolate sponge, with chocolate fudge icing filled with double cream with berries mixed into it - YUM Grin.

mrspink27 · 26/02/2012 22:37

Or www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3092/ultimate-chocolate-cake looks good

Beanbagz · 27/02/2012 10:10

I have cooked this chocolate fudge cake several times in different shaped tins. Tastes fab!

Original poster
PippiL · 27/02/2012 10:11

Someone at work made the Lorraine pascal one and it was not nice!

I don't rate her... I know she is popular but a lot of her stuff is just 'put together' rather than 'proper baking' in my probably biased opinion!

Right googling the last two. I like the idea of straws or raspberries with it.

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Original poster
PippiL · 27/02/2012 10:14

Beanbagz, yes yes! I have done that several times too. It does taste nice, that is the fudgy type texture I'm after.

So do you think it would work for a birthday cake then? What do you put on top? cos that topping is really runny, I'm not sure I get get it to spread evenly over the top.

Thinking today might be the day to try out a g'nash. Just for research purposes you understand.

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GlaikitFizzog · 27/02/2012 10:16

I was about to link to Mrs pinks cake! Its my fail safe cake and bloody gorgeous. imho!!

SoupDragon · 27/02/2012 10:18

You can put any kind of topping you want on it I would imagine. I often mix and match cake and frosting :)

SoupDragon · 27/02/2012 10:19

If you piped a ring of firmer frosting round the edge, would the runnier one pool in the middle and level out?

Original poster
PippiL · 27/02/2012 10:22

Just looked at MrsPinks one. I am going to do a test run on it. It ticks all my boxes.

Muscovado sugar for moistness...tick
Real chocolate...tick
Ganash...tick
Buttermilk...tick

SoupDragon, that's a genius idea!

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SoupDragon · 27/02/2012 10:32

Yesterday I made an extremely ungrown up birthday cake for DD covered in white chocolate buttercream with pink sugar and smart butterflies :o

Nothing sophisticated about that, I can tell you :o

Beanbagz · 27/02/2012 11:24

PippiL - i generally pop the fudge topping into the fridge for 5-10 mins to cool down before icing the cake. I haven't found it to be too runny that way.

Good luck with the research!

nextphase · 27/02/2012 11:45

Don't know where to find it on the web, but this is my favourite:
Melt 225g dark choc in a bowl. Stir in 175g butter til melted. Add 4tbsp plain flour, 225g caster sugar and 6 egg yolks.
Whisk 6 egg whites til stiff, and fold into choc mixture.
Cook in a deep 20cm cake tin, lined, at 180 deg C for 35 mins, or until no longer wobbly (don't use the skewer method of testing cooked cake - doesn't work for this)
It turns into more like a mouse cake than a sponge cake.

I cover with ganache - 225 double cream, heated and then poured over 225g dark choc. Stir well, and leave for several hours to cool before spreading.

After a disaster with undercooking (WHO turned the oven off then, toddler??) it is also lovely with malteesers scattered in the crater where it sank over the top

bacon · 27/02/2012 12:51

This one is fool proof and works so well:www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4689/chocolate-cake

you can add orange extract to give it that chocolate orange taste. Add more icing sugar to pipe around the edges. You can buttercream/ganache around the edges (1:3) and sugarpaste.

What I did for DS1 6th cake was layer chocolate cake with vanilla so you had a good height.

If your using a cocoa cake then you must use a strong quality cocoa such as Green & Blacks or professional type. The quality of the granche will improve the taste. Mascarpone style icing is stunning and not sweet.

Alternative is a white chocolate mud cake.

Google images for cake finishes I get lots of inspiration. For easy wow dip fresh strawberrys in dark chocolate and swirl white chocolate quickly over and this looks very effective.

Have a look at this blog - some great ideas I use on here. sweetapolita.com/2011/07/6-layer-dark-chocolate-strawberry-buttercream-cake/

Original poster
PippiL · 27/02/2012 13:00

That strawberry chocolate one on the blog looks fab! So tempted to try it.

I have to top the cake I did last year, which was a 6 layer rainbow cake covered in cream cheese frosting so was white on the outside...until you cut into it. I called it my bag fat gay pride cake! The girls at the party LOVED it!

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Original poster
PippiL · 27/02/2012 13:01

Big fat gay pride cake, even!

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alison222 · 27/02/2012 13:10

this for a grown up cake?

HiggsBosom · 27/02/2012 13:18

I made the goodfood ultimate one last week for dh's birthday. It was ok. Didn't rise nearly enough to cut into 4 though, but I wasn't bothered. Word of warning, sauce is TONS and takes ages to cook enough to use! I made mine and stuck in the fridge, after an hour was still runny. 30 mins in the freezer was all I had available and even then it wasn't stiff enough! So, I'd say a good 2 - 3 hours in advance, honest! However, it is lovely to eat just straight from the bowl....

moodymary · 27/02/2012 13:18

Another vote for the bbc good food Ultimate Chocolate Cake.

I bake a lot but am not that great at it! However, I have made this cake a few times and it has always turned out very well.

I do reduce the amount of sugar in it though as it is very very sweet.

I also chill the ganache in the fridge before putting it on the cake as otherwise it sort of runs into a big puddle around the cake!