Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, Easy and Gorgeous

Categories : baked sweets, desserts & sweet snacks, Recipes

A seriously good chocolate cake. Moist, light, fluffy and very easy to make. Need I say more?

Ok maybe just a couple of words. This is good chocolate cake. I mean really good. (have I said that enough?) Anyway, it is. It’s dead easy to prepare –it’s one of those “mix the dry mix the wet ingredients and incorporate” types- and you only need a mixer or electric whisk for the frosting.

The chocolate cream cheese frosting is just right, without the ridiculous quantities of sugar normally found in such recipes. I mean, 4 cups of sugar for 200 grams of cream cheese? Unnecessary. Try this one and if you feel it’s not sweet enough add more sugar gradually till you get to where you want to be.

I used two 9 inch round springform pans, but you can make one big cake if you prefer. Watch the baking times if you do though, it might need more time if all the batter is in the same pan. I line my pans with greaseproof paper, as this is a very runny batter and one of them drips. Better safe.

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups flour, all purpose

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp instant espresso powder

1 cup milk

1/2 cup oil (use a light flavoured vegetable oil like sunflower)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

For the chocolate cream cheese frosting

105 gr butter, softened

300 gr cream cheese, softened

150 gr dark chocolate

3/4 cup icing (powdered) sugar

Show me more ideas and suggestions

Another idea is to make 2/3 of the frosting and fill the middle of the cake with raspberry jam. It goes very nicely with chocolate. Use the frosting for the top and sides only.

Step 1

For the cake: Preheat your oven to 180C (170C fan). Grease your pans and line them with greaseproof paper cut into a larger circle than the base, pressing well into the corners. (to catch runny batter)

Step 2

Mix all the dry ingredients (flour to espresso) in a large bowl with a whisk. In another bowl beat the wet ingredients except the water. Add the wet to the dry, mix till incorporated, then add the water while beating slowly but continuously. Beat briskly for a minute, to incorporate some air into the batter.

Step 3

Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre of both cakes. Let them rest in the pans for 5 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Step 4

For the frosting: When the cakes have cooled, beat the butter with the cream cheese using a mixer or electric whisk. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second blasts, stirring in between each one. Add to the mixture, together with the sugar, and beat till smooth and creamy.

Step 5

To assemble the cake put a little bit of frosting on the serving platter, to keep it from moving about. Slice the tops off the cakes if they are domed. Place the first cake on the platter (I put it on upside down, so the completely flat side is facing up). Spread 1/3 of the frosting on the cake, then top with the second one (right side up). Continue spreading the frosting on the top and around the sides of the cake. It doesn’t much matter if it looks pretty; no one will care once they take a bite!

The recipe for the cake is from the blog Add A Pinch, and the recipe for the frosting is my own.

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