Celebrations Galore and the Best Chocolate Birthday Cake

November is a month of birthdays and celebrations for us. I call it 'the birthday season'. Well, the season actually begins just few days short of the month with my young cousin's birthday. But it so happened that it was celebrated in the month of November. When asked about the choice of flavor, pat came her response 'Chocolate!'.

A cake meant for Birthday needs to be more special and prettier. Since I would rather bake than decorate, I went for simple technique. It was more like spur of the moment or shall I say spin of the moment. The turntable mom gifted me some time back was really handy.

The cake is moist and chocolatey with a hint of coffee. I think it is very similar to a devils' food cake. What I also love about this cake is that it doesn't need a slather of sugar syrup to keep it moist. The inspiration for cake is from here. I omitted the black cocoa. Definitely use it if it is available. Also I used instant pure coffee powder, instead of brewed coffee. If not a coffee fan, you can simply skip the coffee powder and use plain water instead.

Making the cake itself was a breeze. The batter is prepared using the muffin method, a time and effort saver. And the result is a fluffy, moist and chocolatey cake. You measure and mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Measure the wet ingredients in a different bowl, give them a stir. Pour the wet mixture in the dry one, in 2-3 batches and stir just till combined. And the batter is ready to be baked. Just a word of caution here, do not over-mix because that will result in a rubbery textured cake. Also, line the pan bottom with butter-paper to avoid cake-stuck-to-the-bottom scenario.

The cake base can be prepared days ahead. In fact, I suggest making the cake one day prior to frosting/decorating it. It stores well too, just let the baked cake cool to room temperature and wrap it well in cling-wrap and store it in refrigerator. It can also be frozen. Just bring it to almost room temperature before you frost it.

I used a simple chocolate buttercream as the filling. And for frosting the top and sides, I mixed in some whipped cream to the buttercream. Addition of whipped cream made the frosting silkier, though it lightened the color of the frosting a bit.

Simple buttercream tends to be gritty because of the sugar granules not getting dissolved completely. I think if prepared days ahead, the grittiness is gone. Or maybe it was addition of whipped cream that did the trick.

I would refrain from calling this cake the best chocolate cake but for a 'birthday celebration cake', it definitely is a winner. This one won hearts of all; from a two year old to a sixty two year old. 
Hope you will bake it! Here is the recipe:

The Best Chocolate Birthday Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

1 cup (200 grams) sugar, powdered
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (123 grams) All-purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (~ 45 grams) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup strong black coffee (1/2 cup hot water plus 2 tsp of instant pure coffee powder)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Buttercream

1/2 cup (1 stick, 114 grams ) butter, softened
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) confectioners / icing sugar
1/4 (24 grams) cup cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cream/milk

Steps for preparing cake:

Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease, line and dust one 8-inch round baking pan. Set aside.

Measure the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Using a whisk, mix till the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, mix together egg, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla.
Add wet mixture to dry one in 2-3 batches. Mix till just combined. The batter will be thin. 

Pour batter into prepared pan. 
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes for round pans. At 30 minutes mark, insert a wooden toothpick in center to check if it is done. Cool the cake in cake pan for 10 minutes. Turn it out onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Buttermilk substitute: for 1/2 cup buttermilk, take about 1 tablespoon plain curd in an 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill the rest with milk. Let it set for 15-20 minutes and then use it in place of buttermilk in above recipe.

Steps for preparing buttercream:

Sift together 3 cups powdered sugar into a bowl. Sift cocoa powder in a different one and set aside.
Cream butter for a few minutes till fluffy, with a handheld mixer. Turn off the mixer.

Add about a third of sugar to the butter. Starting on low speed, mix till the sugar is absorbed. Increase the mixer speed and beat for 2 more minutes. Repeat with remaining sugar.

Turn off the mixer. Scrape the bowl, add sifted cocoa and mix till cocoa is absorbed.
Add vanilla extract and salt and cream and mix some more, about 3 minutes.

You should get an even-colored, smooth buttercream. For stiffer consistency, add a little more sugar. for a thinner one, add additional cream/milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

Assembly:

Cut the cake in two layers using a long serrated knife or a bread knife. Place one layer on a serving plate/cake board.

Dollop about a third of the frosting on the bottom layer. Spread the frosting leaving about one-fourth of an inch margin around the edge. The margin is to avoid frosting from oozing out when the next layer of cake is placed on top.

Place the second layer of cake on top of the frosting. Now frost the sides in back and forth strokes using small amount of frosting at a time. 

Dollop the remaining icing on the top of the cake and spread it evenly. 

You can create different patterns on the sides and top. You can add some sprinkles on top too. Or some chocolate chips the way shown in the picture.


Happy Baking!
Shwe

Talking about 'good' fat

Come summer the market is loaded with summer seasonal fruits. Avocado is one such fruit, commonly known as butter-fruit in southern India owing to it's creamy-buttery-soft pulp. It is a pear shaped dark green fruit with parrot green pulp and a large seed. It has almost no taste, almost. Mash it a little and you might notice a subtle flavour.

So 'What's with the good fat?' you may ask. Fats and good-fats are a common running topic of discussion in our household. Arguments range from 'no fat is good' to 'some fats are good' to 'little amounts are essential'.
Apart from being loaded with potassium vitamin K and folic acid, avocado contains large amounts of good fat. So why not use it to substitute butter in a cake?!

I recalled coming across a vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake. Joy, the author of the blog, mentions it to be a moist and chocolatey cake. Bang on target on both accounts.
You wouldn't miss the egg or the butter. And definitely won't be able to make out presence of a fruit. You might smell the oil though. It was fun to see the expressions on faces when the ingredients of the cake were disclosed.

The original recipe includes a avocado based frosting. For me it had to be Ganache. Just two ingredients, chocolate and cream, some stirring and you get one of the simplest and quickest of frostings/fillings. You'll love to make and eat it if you are a chocolate lover. Check here for more info on how to make it.

I made sourcream ganache with coffee flavour. I added some icing sugar to reduce the tang lent by sourcream. I used it as a filling and for frosting the top of cake. I left the sides bare.

What was intended to be an experiment turned out to be a great party cake! Here's the recipe:

Eggless Chocolate Avocado Cake with Sourcream Ganache

 

Ingredients:

Cake

1 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour
3-4 Tbsps cocoa powder
2 pinches of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 Cups granulated sugar
2 Tbsps vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1/4 Cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1/4 medium avocado
1 Cup water
1 Tbsps white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ganache

200 ml sourcream
150 gm chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
2 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp hot water
4 Tbsp icing sugar, sifted
*For making ganache, among Indian chocolate brands, I suggest using Cadbury Bournville.

Steps:

Preheat oven to 180° C. Grease and dust an 8" round pan.

Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar.  Set aside.

Mash the avocado. Mix it with remaining wet ingredients in a bowl.

Add sugar into the wet mix and stir.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ones all at once. Stir until smooth.

Pour batter into a the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool the cake in cake pan for 10 minutes. Turn it out onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Preparing Ganache:
Dissolve the coffee in the hot water, set aside.

Heat the sourcream in a heavy bottom pan. Once small bubbles appear around the edges of the cream, remove from heat and add the chocolate chips.
Stir every 2 minutes, to ensure all the chocolate is melted. If you find unmelted chocolate chips, reheat cream-chocolate mixture on double boiler for about 10-15 seconds.

Once the chocolate is completely melted, add sifted icing sugar and mix. Ensure that no lumps remain.
Add the coffee once the ganache is warm to touch.

You can use the ganache right away by pouring it as a glaze on the cake. It thickens as it cools. Once thickened, you can spread it on the cake with a spatula. I kept the ganache in refrigerator for about 2 hours and whipped it to get a lighter fluffier texture. On whipping, it lightens in color too, this gave a good contrast to the dark rich chocolate cake.

Assembly:
Slice the cake horizontally in two layers. Spread about half the ganache on bottom layer, leaving about 1/4 inch around the border. The filling gets pushed towards the edges once you place the top layer.
Lightly lay the top cake layer on the ganache filling. Dump remaining ganache on the top layer and spread evenly. You can make swirls using the spatula.

Try baking this cake while the avocado season lasts. As Rose says 'You won't regret it'.

Happy Baking!
Shwe