About the bake
Indulge in a slice of cake inspired by Roald Dahl’s book; Matilda. This rich and sumptuous chocolate cake recipe is made with three layers of sponge and a creamy chocolate icing.
Method
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C, gas mark 4). Grease and base line 3 x 18cm sandwich tins with baking parchment.
Step 2:
Sift together the flours, bicarbonate of soda and the cocoa powder into a large bowl. Stir in the muscovado sugar, breaking down any sugar clumps until evenly combined.
Step 3:
In a medium pan set over a very low heat, gently combine together the chocolate and butter with 145ml of water. Stir continuously and heat just until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Step 4:
Add the melted chocolate mixture, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix well until a combined and smooth batter is formed.
Step 5:
Divide the batter evenly between the 3 prepared tins and place into the oven. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack.
Step 6:
To prepare the ganache: gently heat the double cream and muscovado sugar in a pan, just until the cream looks like it is starting to come to the boil.
Step 7:
Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Mix well together until the chocolate has all melted and stir in the golden syrup. Leave to cool at room temperature so it thickens slightly.
Step 8:
Once the cakes have cooled, sandwich them together with a thin layer of ganache and smooth the rest over the top and sides of the cake until completely covered.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 125g Self-raising white flour
- 125g Allinson's Plain White Flour
- 0.5 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- 40g Cocoa powder
- 425g Unrefined dark muscovado sugar
- 240g Dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)
- 240g Butter (unsalted)
- 145ml Water
- 4 Egg(s) (free range) (beaten, medium)
- 95ml Buttermilk
- 2 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
- 125g Self-raising white flour
For the ganache
- 200g Dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)
- 250ml Double cream
- 1 tbsp Unrefined dark muscovado sugar
- 1 tbsp Golden syrup
Recipe Reviews
made this cake a few times now, very indulgent chocolaty cake, always a winner with everyone who's tried it. Easy to make for such a lovely cake
Don't even read this recipe if you are dieting as it's absolutely indulgent. Mind you I did double up and it looked like the cake in the movie.
this really is a lovely indulgent chocolaty cake, easy enough to make. Made it a couple of times now and always gets a lot of mmmmmm's from the indulgers.
nummy mummy
Always my go to for chocolate cake!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 125g Self-raising white flour
- 125g Allinson's Plain White Flour
- 0.5 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- 40g Cocoa powder
- 425g Unrefined dark muscovado sugar
- 240g Dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)
- 240g Butter (unsalted)
- 145ml Water
- 4 Egg(s) (free range) (beaten, medium)
- 95ml Buttermilk
- 2 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
- 125g Self-raising white flour
For the ganache
- 200g Dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)
- 250ml Double cream
- 1 tbsp Unrefined dark muscovado sugar
- 1 tbsp Golden syrup