Chocolate Cake

I have a really good chocolate cake recipe on the blog, but this one’s a classic. The génoise forms the basis of this surprisingly simple cake. Making this reminded me that I don’t need to go searching for new-fangled recipes and methods when the classic génoise works like a dream.

A génoise is amongst the first things we learned at school, and something we were tested on. The list of ingredients for the cake is straightforward – something you’ll usually have around.

Some tips for making the perfect génoise: 

• There is no baking powder in the recipe. The volume in the cake depends on the air you whip into the eggs and sugar. Don’t hurry this process. By the end of it, the beaten eggs should be frothy, pale and almost quadrupled in volume. For this, beat the eggs for 7-9 minutes over simmering water. In case you’re using a stand mixer, start by beating it with a whisk over simmering water. When the eggs are warm to the touch, you can finish whisking on high speed with the stand mixer.
• When beating the eggs over water, keep touching the mixture so you’re aware of the temperature. It should be warm and frothy but without any lumps. If it gets too hot, the eggs will curdle.
• Sift the flour/cocoa. You want this to be light and lump-free. When you attempt to fold the dry ingredients into the eggs, you want the flour to disappear into it without struggling against the lumps. You need to work with a very light hand.
• When brushing on the soaking syrup, don’t be shy. The génoise is strong enough to stand up to the liquid.
• You can make a simple syrup, like I have, or spike it with liqueurs.
• Fold in the dry ingredients in two or three additions. No more, because with each addition, folding and mixing you’re losing volume.

Ok, the recipe.

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Genoise

6 eggs
170g caster sugar
A pinch of salt
130g flour
40g cocoa powder
30g melted buttter

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a 20cm cake pan or butter a cake ring and place over a baking sheet.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Whisk with an electric mixer until extremely light and frothy. About 7-9 minutes. The volume should have quadrupled.
3. In another bowl, whisk and sift together the salt, flour and cocoa powder. Fold this into the bowl of eggs until all the flour has been incorporated. Don’t overmix.
4. Finally, stir in the melted butter.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inseterted comes out clean. This is what mine looked like. The baking sheet warped with the heat, and tilted the cake making it slightly uneven (but this is rectified at the assembling stage below)

Ganache

300g dark chocolate
375g cream

1. Partially melt the chocolate over simmering water.
2. Bring the cream to a boil and then pour it over the chocolate. Let it stand for a minute then whisk it until it forms a shiny emulsion.
3. Refrigerate so that it thickens slightly to a spreadable consitency. Give it a stir every little while so that the ganache is evenly smooth (since it hardens from outside inwards when refrigerated.)

Soaking syrup

100g water
100g sugar

Bring to a boil and let it cool completely.

Assemble

1. Let the cake cool completely before you begin working with it.
2. Unmould and then thinly slice the top off just so you get rid of the relatively dry domed curve. Then, slice the chocolate sponge into half using a bread knife. Use a gentle sawing motion. Once you’ve begun cutting don’t pull the knife out until the cake is sliced into two.
3. Brush the bottom sponge with half the soaking syrup.
4. Spread the ganache on it.
5. Brush the soaking syrup on the underside of the top half of the genoise. Place it on the bottom half that’s spread with ganache.
6. Now, apply a thin layer of ganache on the outside of the cake. Don’t worry about it being covered in crumbs. This layer of ganache is meant to hold the crumbs in place.
7. Refrigerate the cake until it has firmed up.
8. Next, whip the cooled unused ganache with a whisk (I prefer to do it by hand so that I don’t risk splitting the ganache) once it has cooled for an hour or two (or throw in two ice cubes into the ganache and whisk). The colour will lighten and the ganache will feel heavier.
9. Finally, remove the cake from the fridge and spread the ganache all over it with the help of a palate knife.
10. To make the textured top, simply run the palate knife in parallel lines across the cake.
11. To cut neat slices, dip your knife in hot water. Wipe dry. Cut. Repeat.