“Flowers and champagne may set the stage, but it’s chocolate that steals the show.”
Today is the birthday of someone special, we cannot send her flowers because they will wilt by the time they get there, we cannot send her champagne as we learnt that she does not like it, we cannot send her chocolates as they will be confiscated by the time they reach Alice Springs 
………….. so we decided that we bake a special “Chocolate Cake” in her name.
Happy Birthday TINA, no matter where we are, our good wishes are always with you. Love and hugs from Joyce, Sylvia and Judy.
This Chocolate Cake is EGGLESS, yet it is so scrumptious, moist and delicious . Baked it in two cake tins and made four layers and put it all together with chocolate ganache, cream and strawberry jam and it was simply divine.
{This recipe is adapted from “Hersheys”.}
Ingredients for the Cake :
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Nuts and strawberries for garnish
Strawberry jam – ½ cup.
Preparation
Preheat oven to 180ºC with rack in the center. Line the bottom and sides of two 8” round cake tins. Hand whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Combine water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla in a large measuring cup. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined, a few lumps are not a problem. Divide batter equally into 2 cake tins and then bake individually for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool cakes on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert them onto the rack.. Leave cake upside down (to cool completely).
Slice into 4 layers, and sandwich with filling. Allow to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes, and then frost with the chocolate ganache.
Filling
Ingredients
300ml low fat cream
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
¼ cup or less icing sugar
Preparation
First prepare filling: Beat the cream with sugar and vanilla powder and keep aside.
Heat strawberry jam in a small nonstick pan and keep aside. (You can skip this step if you are not fond of jam- wont make a difference)
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
225 grams chocolate (cooking) cut into small pieces
180 ml heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons (28 grms) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brandy or cognac (optional).
Keep chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring just to a boil the cream and butter. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a minute or two. Then stir gently with a whisk or spoon. Add brandy or cognac if using.
Cut each cake into two layers – so you end up with 4 layers. Sandwich the cake with cream filling and jam and chill the layered cake. Then brush out any loose crumbs. Crumb coat the cake with a very thin layer of ganache- roughly and refrigerate till the crumb coat has set. Then place the cake on a wire rack and put a wax paper or baking sheet under it to catch excess dripping of ganache. Pour the ganache into the center of the cake and spread quickly with a spatula or palette knife.
Decorate the top as desired. I kept aside some cream, put it in a piping bag and made concentric circles on the cake surface. Then with a skewer dragged lines from the center to the cake edge. That’s how I got the web design. Cover the sides with chopped nuts and pipe some rosettes at the border.
Tina, hope you liked the cake, though it may not be so very perfectly decorated, please know that we made it with love and ate it with love….terey naam sey !!!!!!
Happy Birthday again.
