Valentine’s Day. It seems we’re barely over Christmas before the hearts and flowers onslaught begins. As the day draws ever closer the commercial campaign to relieve us of our cash in the name of love intensifies. Greetings card shops, florists and restaurants rub their hands in glee. Love is… bloody everywhere. Am I to Valentine’s Day what Scrooge is to Christmas? I half expect to be visited by cupid and ghosts of lovers past.
I thought about ignoring the fact that it’s Valentine’s Day and post something seasonally random. As I spent the week procrastinating about what to make, inspiration appeared in the form of some beautiful Black Baccara roses. Normally I avoid buying flowers and especially roses around Valentine’s Day, but as I passed a flower seller I was struck by their dark gothic beauty. I decided that maybe I was protesting to much, because actually I’m not anti romance, just the commercialisation of it.
So I will celebrate love this Valentine’s Day, my love of chocolate cake. I am quite particular about it as I often find shop bought chocolate cake disappointingly dry and tasteless. I set about some ‘arduous’ recipe testing and some tweaking later, I think this is a cake I could fall in love with. A chocolate cake so blissfully damp and intensely chocolatey, its definitely the way to a chocolate lovers heart. No cupid required.
Note:I tested this recipe twice, the first time I used a Nordic Ware 10 cup/2.36L capacity bundt tin which was perfect, but I felt that the cake was a little large for this post. For the post, I used a Nordic Ware 6 cup/1.4 L capacity bundt tin, filled 3/4 full plus 4 mini bundt moulds from a Nordic Ware 6 bundtlette cake pan. If you don’t have a bundt tin you can use a 23cm springform cake tin (see note in recipe).
- 125g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa, chopped ( I used Willie's Cacao 72% Rio Caribe Chef's Drops from Waitrose)
- 125g milk chocolate, 37% cocoa chopped ( I used Green & Blacks Milk Cooking Chocolate)
- 290g unsalted butter, cubed
- 150ml strong black coffee
- 150g self-raising flour
- 175g plain flour
- 30g good quality cocoa powder ( I use Green & Blacks)
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 350g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 40ml sunflower oil
- 125ml buttermilk
- 150g dark chocolate ( I used Green & Blacks 72% Dark Chocolate)
- 50g milk chocolate (I used Green & Blacks 37% Milk Cooking Chocolate )
- 100ml double cream
- Pre-heat the oven to 160C/140C fan/Gas 2-3).
- Grease and butter a large bundt tin and/or individual bundt cake tray (see note above) If you don't have a bundt tin, you can use a 23cm, greased and lined, springform cake tin (note that the cake may take around 1hr 20 mins to cook)
- Put the chopped chocolate, coffee and 250g of the butter in a large saucepan.
- Melt gently over a low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove to heat and leave to cool.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and caster sugar into a large bowl.
- Whisk the eggs, oil and buttermilk together in a separate bowl.
- Make a well in the flour mix and add the egg mixture, folding gently.
- Add the cooled chocolate to the mix in two batches, folding the chocolate in gently until the mixture combined.
- Pour into the prepared tin/tins. If using a 10 cup, 2.36L tin cook for 1hr 15 - 1hour 30 minutes. If using a 6 cup/1.4L tin cook for 1 hour. If using small individual bundt tins cook for 30 minutes. A skewer inserted into the middle of the cake/s should come out clean, if not continue to cook until it does.
- Remove from the oven and cover with a clean tea towel. Ensure that the cake/s has cooled completely before removing from the tin.
- When cool, trim the bottom of the cake if necessary so that its sits flat.
- Make the icing by melting the dark and milk chocolate along with the remaining butter and double cream in a small saucepan, stirring until smooth.
- Let the icing cool and thicken slightly before pouring over the cake. If you have any icing left serve with the cake.
Brilliant post Louise, I agree with this sentence completely “As the day draws ever closer the commercial campaign to relieve us of our cash in the name of love intensifies.”!
I am romantic, but I find Valentine’s Day so tiresome.
This cake looks delicious, is it very moist? I have a bundt tin, but I’m yet to bake anything in it. The cake looks delicious, and those roses look amazing.
Thanks so much Angela, such lovely comments as always! I find that butter gives the best favour and richness to chocolate cake, but oil helps to keep it moist, so I have added both. Its probably not as overly moist as cake recipes that just use oil, but I think its just about right. Do try your bundt tin but be sure to grease well and flour (or dust with cocoa) first. xx
This cake looks beautiful. I love how chocolaty and dark it looks. I cannot wait to try. Thanks for sharing!
So kind Jolena, thank you! Please do let me know if you do try it, I’d love to know what you think! x
This is the most beautiful bundt cake ever. It looks so dark, decadent and delicious.. & so perfect for Valentine’s of course.
Thank you so much Thalia, although I have to say I have also fallen in love with your stunning crystallised white rose cake, so pretty! x
This is so beautiful, Louise – wonderfully dark and decadent and gothic and kind of romantic at the same time! Xx
Thank you so much Skye… I have to confess I love the dark intensity of a gothic romance, so the black roses were the perfect inspiration!xx
There’s no better time to celebrate a love of chocolate cake! And by the looks of this particular recipe, there’s no better cake to do it with 🙂
Thank you Kristin! Hope you have a lovely day! x
What a beautiful cake, wow. All that chocolate, it looks beyond delicious and the texture is just right as well. The pictures are stunning too! Well done!
Thank you for your lovely comments Oana, I love your blog so that is such a compliment! I am so sorry for the late reply, it has been one of those weeks! xx
Hi Louise,
I used this cake as the inspiration for the Chocolate Bundt Cake I made for my monthly Women Talking Column. Here’s the link where I’ve credited your recipe http://www.womentalking.co.uk/topics/food-focus/ultimate-chocolate-bundt-cake.
Thanks
Angela
Thank you so much for sharing Angela! I love your version, hope you enjoyed it? xx
It tastes amazing I loved it. This will be a go to chocolate cake recipe for me. Thanks for sharing it. x
That’s great! Its definitely a chocolate cake lovers dream! 😉 xx
I was really disappointed by how heavy this cake turned out.
As a lifelong baker, I make a cake most weeks, and they are light and moist. However this cake turned out dense and heavy.
I had baked it for an inlaw’s birthday, and was planning to decorate it as a ‘gravity defying’ or ‘pouring cake’, but I couldn’t give anyone such a heavy cake, so it went in the bin.
Hi Janie,
I am incredibly sorry that you were disappointed. There is nothing worse than trying a recipe and it does not meet your expectations. The cake is supposed to be like a chocolate fudge cake, so it will not as light as some sponges. Light chocolate cake recipes tend to only use cocoa powder, this recipe has a high chocolate content. I have made this cake many times with great results and have had great feedback from other readers who have tried it. I am so sorry that you did not like it. Best wishes Louise.
Hi Louise
Thanks for that feedback, I selected your recipe because I don’t think cocoa powder alone would be chocolatey enough, and it was for real chocolate aficionado.
So I’m going to give it another go now that I know what to expect.
I had never made a Bundt cake before, and I imagine that the high egg content may also contribute to the denser texture, but on the other hand that also means that it is easy to turn out of a Bundt pan. I had read lots of accounts of people finding that their cakes did not turn out of the pan intact, and on the positive side, mine turned out of the pan perfectly.
Hi Janie, Thanks so much for your reply and for deciding to give the cake another try! Bundt cakes are notoriously difficult to remove from the tin, but I have never had any trouble with this recipe either. I really hope you do enjoy it this time, please let me know! Louise x