Recipe for 10" square tasty chocolate cake, please

[Nolda]

Does anyone have a recipe for a yummy chocolate cake for a 10" square tin? I'm not going to carve it or anything ambitious, it just needs to be yummy and not sink in the middle.

I'm planning to cover it in ganache and stick chocolate fingers round the outside. Could I do this the day before, or would the biscuits go all soggy do you think?

Any help and advice very gratefully received, thanks.

hi nolda

ive got a basic recipe for you that works for me :) although i cant guarantee it works for everyone as i have had issues with certain recipes and other people have gotten them to work with no issues lol

550gplain choc
450g unsalted butter
275g caster sugar
16 large eggs
115g icing sugar
450g self raising flour
baking time/heat 105mins 20 120mins at 180c/350f/gas 4

preheat the oven to the temp. melt the choc in the microwave or over hot water.

cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy and pale

separate the eggs, then slowly add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, then add the melted choc

whisk the egg whites into soft peaks and then whisk in the icing sugar gradually

soft the flour into a third bowl and then slowly add the flour and the egg whites alternatively using a metal spoon into the choc and egg yolk mixture

pour into the large tin. then check after about an hour and 45mins to keep an eye.

if you can then leave the cake for 12 hours before cutting however if your not going to cut etc then this should be fine :)

i would add the bisc whenever you want if you have an airtight container big enough to place the cake into otherwise i would be tempted to cover the cake with foil until tomorrow then do the grenache and the biscs :)

hope you make a beautiful cake hun xx

Thanks Steff, sounds yummy. However, I've never made a cake where you whisk the egg whites separately and I'm a bit nervous to try under pressure. Is it difficult?

nope... if you have an electric whisk you just keep whisking until they go into peaks... its hard to overwhisk eggs if you keep an eye its not like cream where the cream separates... so if you have an electric whisk just put it on quite high and when you start to think its getting stiffer just turn it off and lift it out of the egg whites. if they dont stand in peaks do it again for another 30secs repeating until they do stand in peaks :) and the idea of folding everything in with a metal spoon is to keep the air in so dont go beating it all together and stop mixing it once its mixed in. dont be tempted to keep stiring...

i have a recipe for a cocoa cake which is easier and gorgeous but its not chocolate its cocoa so its a little bit more bitter. lovely with a filling and sweet outside. i can type that recipe in if you want??

Hi nolda, i have a fab choccy recipe for a 10 inch square, made it last thurs.
325grms soft butter
570grms caster sugar
4 tsps vanills extract not essence
5 eggs
125grms s/r flour
350grms plain flour
2 and quater tsps bicarb
110grms cocoa powder( yes all of that amount)
half pint of milk
1 hr 20 mins on fan 160, or 180 normal
Usual creaming method,and fold flours,bicarb and cocoa alternitively with the milk. honestly this is a lovely cake which i use all the time, i made two this weekend for people, check out my cakes on, facebook, put in Nannycooks cakes.

Thanks, Nannycook. This recipe sounds just the thing. Funnily enough I was lurking on the sugarcraft chat thread yesterday and checked out your Facebook page. Loved the spotty cake with the animals. When you make the stars on wires, do you use ordinary sugarpaste, stick the wire in and let it dry?

This is one I make a lot
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4689/chocolate-cake

You can marble it with plain vanilla cake or keep to chcoclate.

I also use this for 2 20cm sandwhich tins and works great.

You could also use Lindys Cakes (google) there is a rich chocolate cake on there and how to change the quanities.www.lindyscakes.co.uk/2011/02/02/lindys-chocolate-fudge-cake-recipe/

Personally, through testing and much eating a cocoa cake just isnt great - it has to contain chocolate to give it that chocolate hit.

Thank you Nolda, i,ve just taken cake decorating back up after a 20yr gap, that cake was the first i'd made in 20yrs, i was pleased with it though, it was for my grandson, he liked it too, he kept all the animals, bless him! yes they were made with normal sugar paste and left to dry.

Well bacon, i've just finished off the last of your krispy cakes, wont be making them too soon again i can tell you, every time i went in the kitchen i had one!
As far the choccy cake is concerned i have that Lindy Smith book and even tried her cake but so many people said mine was better, so i just stayed with that, it works for me, but each to their own i guess.

OOoo, I don't know which to choose now. Bacon, until recently, I would have agreed with you without hesitation that a chocolate cake needed to contain chocolate, but then I made (and ate) Mary Berry's Very Best Chocolate Fudge Cake. I might have to continue testing and eating and make both!

Nannycook - Do you use medium or large eggs in your recipe?

Hi Nolda, i always use medium eggs unless recipe says different. Are you attempting that cake then? I have 3 cakes to make including that choccy cake for the end of July, busy, busy, busy.Sorry i take time to reply, i'm in work all day, this is my relaxing time.

Thanks for your help, Nannycook. I used large eggs but it seems to have worked ok. The cake is on my profile. Hope your cakes go well.

Nolda, their fab, hope it taste as nice as it looks?

Just made the Nannycook cake and followed exact instructions and timings and it's a little burnt around the edges and on top 😔 I'm hoping the middle is nice and moist. 😌

Just put this in the oven... Thanks for the recipe Nannycook, so far so good.

Here's my cake using that recipe nannycook. Turned out well, going to ice it today.