After the decadence of the holiday season, I find January is a month for cleansing and cutting back on sweets and treats. However, heading into February and Valentines Day it's time for some well deserved chocolate cake.
When it comes to Valentines Day presents, I think gifts which are thoughtful and from the heart are the most memorable. My way of being thoughtful is to make my husband a lovely dinner and special dessert on Valentines Day. I haven't yet decided what to make for dinner, but for dessert I've had this Chocolate Cake recipe in mind for quite some time.
I tried this recipe out a few months ago when I needed a special dessert to bring with me to a dinner and wanted to make something impressive looking while still being delicious. This cake was perfect - rich and decadent with a deep chocolate flavour and a silky smooth texture. However, what I love most about this dessert is that it's incredibly easy to make, the ingredients are all mixed up in one bowl (no extra washing up), and doesn't require any special equipment.
I'm a big fan of the Australian food stylist and writer Donna Hay; her food is beautiful to look at, delicious and always simple to make. When I came across her recipe for Ultimate One Bowl Chocolate Cake I had to give it a try. Some of the ingredients in Donna's original recipe are scaled out by weight as opposed to measured in cups. Therefore, I've adapted the recipe into volume (cups) and listed it below, but if you want to try the original recipe with some ingredients by weight here it is: Ultimate One Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe and video. The only other change I've made is in place of sifting cocoa powder over the top of the finished cake (which I think looks gorgeous), I drizzle a chocolate glaze instead . I think it adds a really nice fudgey quality and one more dimension of beauty and silkiness to the cake.
Here is my adapted recipe and my recipe for chocolate glaze:
Cake:
1/2 cup butter
1 & 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chopped or chocolate chips
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup ground almonds
pinch of salt
5 eggs
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Grease a 9 inch spring form baking tin with butter on the bottom and up the sides. Then line the bottom and sides with parchment paper (for instructions about the tin with parchment paper, check out the recipe link above for the video of Donna's method). Set aside the prepared tin while you make the cake batter.
In a large heat proof mixing bowl, add the butter and chocolate and melt over a double boiler or in the microwave (stop and stir every 30 seconds if using the microwave). Once melted add the brown sugar, flour, milk, almonds and salt, mixing until well incorporated. Then add the eggs and mix again until fully incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and cover with a sheet of aluminium foil and bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. When the cake is just every so slightly jiggly in the middle remove from the oven and let sit out on the counter to cool off a bit. Then refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours to fully cool and set up.
Serve with a dusting of cocoa powder and whipped cream or with my chocolate glaze recipe (below):
Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
3/4 cup of whole milk
1 tablespoon of butter
Dash of vanilla
Pinch of salt
Combine the chocolate and milk in a saucepan (or a heatproof bowl in the microwave) and melt the ingredients on low heat until combined, stirring often. Then add the butter, vanilla and salt, whisking or stirring to combine. Let cool slightly and then pour onto the baked cake and refrigerate as mentioned above.
