Birthday party chocolate cake

*Old post, new photos

While you know I have a lot of love for the other chocolate cake recipe on my blog, it's essentially a recipe for an 8' layer cake and it's a little unwieldy to scale up for more people. So when I need to feed a crowd, either at work or at a party, this chocolate cake is my failsafe. Don't worry though, it's everything you and I love in a chocolate cake: chocolatey, tender-crumbed and almost squidgy in its softness, just made to be paired with a generous slick of divine ganache. As Jess would say, yummers!

The sheet variation (made in a 9x13’ pan) was one of the cakes I made for two of my oldest friends a few months ago, and far easier party fare than my more high-maintenance, dinner party fraisier cake. Don't Karishma and Dimple look cute? We've been friends for nearly fifteen years now, after little Richa casually walked into a birthday party in their flat in Bangalore the day we moved into the building. Richa, Dimple and Jackie kept themselves entertained with cricket, WWE and cardboard boxes while Karishma and I listened to unashamedly angsty music, traded books and explored the online world and our identities (grammar purists with heart) within it. The two years I spent in Bangalore were challenging...but the Gulrajanis helped make them great.

Dimple's blissed-out face when she took a bite would have told you everything you need to know. It's ridiculously good and easy. This is originally Hershey's 'Perfectly Chocolate' chocolate cake recipe. I switch in hot coffee for the boiling water and use half light brown and half white sugar. The coffee and brown sugar both add a caramelly depth (without a noticeable coffee taste) and the brown sugar somehow also makes this cake even softer. My final trick is to add a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to the milk about five minutes before I add it in - this quick and easy 'buttermilk' makes for a wondrously tender crumb. These are optional hacks but I like 'em.

As you know, my favourite pairing for any chocolate cake is ganache. It's just chopped chocolate melting into hot cream i.e. effortless and finger-dipping good. I love the shine and smooth texture. For Jess’s birthday I used this recipe to make a scrummy three-layer chocolate orange cake, using Terry's Chocolate Orange for the ganache and a zesty orange buttercream. There are so many ways to customise this cake - why not try it with my Ferrero Rocher frosting? You really can’t go wrong.

Chocolate sheet cake

Recipe from Hershey's 'Perfectly Chocolate' Chocolate Cake. Makes one 9x13", two 9" or three 8" cakes.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups sugar (I like to use a mixture of white and light brown sugar)
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice  
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water or coffee

METHOD

Heat oven to 180°C. Grease and flour a 9x13-inch baking pan. Add the vinegar to the milk.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water/coffee (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Spread generously with ganache and decorate as desired.

Notes: Make this allergy-friendly by using white spelt or gluten-free flour, egg replacer and any plant-based milk (though I'd say soy works best).  

VARIATIONS:

TWO-LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 180°C. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30-35 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE-LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 180°C. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Heat oven to 180°C. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 180°C. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Chocolate ganache

Enough to cover one 8" or 9x13" cake.

INGREDIENTS

• 250g chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips (dairy-free if needed)
• 250ml cream or canned coconut milk (please don't try to use light coconut milk here)

METHOD

Place the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips in a bowl.

Heat the cream or coconut milk over medium heat until it just comes to a boil.

Pour the cream or coconut milk over the chocolate and leave to rest for five minutes.

Stir well until all the chocolate has melted and dissolved and the mixture is glossy and smooth.

Leave to cool completely and thicken, putting it in the fridge briefly if necessary. It shouldn't be runny or thin but it needs to be loose enough to pour over the cake.

Notes: For allergy-friendly swaps, switch in the flour for spelt flour (you could experiment with gluten-free flour but I haven't tried this) and the eggs for an egg replacer (I like Orgran No Egg™ Egg Replacer), use coconut milk rather than cream in the ganache and the Lindt Excellence 70% range as your chocolate.