I could eat this whole loaf over a cup of tea. I’m a chocoholic of course (there should be rehab centres for people like me). This cake is moist, gooey, chocolatey, in short, divine!. When I take it out of the oven, while its still piping hot and still in the pan, I prick it with a skewer and drizzle all over with 1/3 of the ganache. I got the inspiration for this method by a recipe in my “Thermomix” cookbook (this magical little machine, I cannot live without). So I took my favourite chocolate cake recipe and transformed it into this moist, rich chocolate heaven. I sprinkle with shards of my favourite dark chocolate bar, but you can use any other chocolate you like.

Ingredients for the cake:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (50 grams) unsweetened cocoa (I used Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa)
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup soft brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 90 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Ganache:

• 200 grams semisweet chocolate,
• 1 cup cream

 To serve

• About 50 grams dark chocolate shards, chopped with a sharp knife (I chopped my favourite dark chocolate, Ghirardelli 72% cocoa)

Method

Preheat oven to 175 C. Butter bottom and sides of a 21 x 12 cm loaf pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving some hanging on each side (you should have paper hanging from all 4 sides of the pan so you need to line with two pieces of parchment, one on top of the other. Brush bottom parchment with butter so that the top piece of parchment sticks to one on the bottom).

Put cocoa into a medium bowl and whisk in the boiling water, until cocoa is dissolved.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into another medium bowl.

In a mixer bowl, beat eggs and both sugars until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add butter and beat until blended. Combine cocoa mixture and sour cream. Add to the mixer bowl. Beat until combined. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined. Don’t over beat. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until cake is done and tester comes out clean.

Make ganache about 10 minutes before cake is done. You can, of course, make it earlier and reheat over low heat if it thickens. Chop the chocolate in a glass bowl. Bring the cream to a boil over medium heat. Pour cream over the chocolate. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes, then stir to melt the chocolate.

The minute the cake comes out of the oven, prick it all over with a metal or wooden skewer. While cake is still in the pan, pour over about 1/3 of the ganache. Do this slowly. Leave the remaining ganache to room temperature. Cool the cake completely, in the pan.

Once cake is cool, use the parchment paper, to lift the cake out of the pan. Remove parchment and discard (at this stage, ganache might still be a bit runny, but don’t worry if it looks messy. I think it just adds to the yumminess!). Put cake on a serving platter. Pour over the remaining ganache which by now should have thickened slightly (if its too runny, put in the fridge for 10 minutes). Let it run down the sides of the cake. Sprinkle with chocolate shards. Leave until ganache is set (you can put in the fridge for a while to speed up the process, but give it ample time to come to room temperature before serving). Serve to eager chocoholics.

Notes:

• If you are short of time or ingredients, this cake is wonderful even without the ganache.
• If you don’t like the “messy” look, before you remove the cake from the pan, you can put it in the fridge for a while. The ganache will firm up.