Death By Chocolate

I’ll begin this blog post by asking one very simple question. Do you know anyone who doesn’t like chocolate cake? I know I certainly don’t. Whenever it’s a family member's or friend's birthday everyone always wants a chocolate cake. Never a vanilla cake, carrot cake or coffee cake. Chocolate is always everybody’s first thought. Maybe this is because chocolate is seen as being the ultimate sweet treat, the guilty pleasure and miracle cure at the end of a bad day. Who can honestly say they haven’t seen a movie, TV show or advertisement where the (most likely) female lead or actress used either a tub of chocolate ice cream or massive slab of chocolate cake to cry into and sooth a broken heart. So a little thought I had was that maybe everyone is choosing chocolate cake because we’re subconsciously being fed the information that chocolate will make us happy.

Can you guess what I’m about to say next? Yep. You guessed it, I made a chocolate cake. It was my sister's birthday and due to having quite a big family, I’ve made my fair share of chocolate cakes over the years, because of this I’ve been able to trial and error many, many, many different recipes. I've been using the same recipe for all my chocolate cakes for about five years now, it’s that good that everyone always requests it on their birthday and in my sister's case, this year was no different. 

The recipe I’ve been using is one that I found on the BBC Good Food website. It’s been a chocolate cake recipe I’ve used for my sister's wedding cake, my other sister's Harry Potter themed cake and also my boyfriend's birthday cake, which also happened to be my first attempt at the what I like to call ‘Death by Chocolate’ cake. 

My sister's favourite film is Beauty and the Beast so when I was doing the food shop and I saw a plastic figure of Belle, I just knew it would be the perfect topper/centerpiece for her cake. I used a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup for the centre of my boyfriend's cake a few years ago but knowing my sister doesn’t like peanut butter, I was wracking my brain for ages trying to think of what chocolate was big enough for the middle of her cake and with no ideas (not even one) I was so happy when I randomly stumbled upon Belle, and I just knew it would work. 

One of the main reasons I love baking this cake is because it’s super simple to make, as well as being ridiculously moist and chocolatey. It’s delicious warm or cold and works with any other flavours. I've made this cake with strawberry frosting before and it was an absolute dream. So long as you have the base recipe, you can do whatever you like with design and any additional flavours. 

Ingredients: 

225g - Plain Flour 

350g - Caster Sugar 

85g - Cocoa Powder 

1 1/2 tsp - Baking Powder 

1 1/2 tsp - Bicarbonate of Soda 

2 - Eggs 

250ml - Milk 

125ml - Vegetable Oil 

2 tsp - Vanilla Extract 

250ml - Boiling Water 

Icing: 

100g - Milk Chocolate 

100g - Dark Chocolate

200g - Double Cream 

When I said it was super simple to make, I wasn’t lying. All you need to do is mix all of the ingredients together (except the boiling water) until fully combined. Add the boiling water at the end, bit by bit until the mixture is smooth and runny. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes and you're done. With so many ingredients you wouldn’t think it would be this easy, but it really is. So there's no need to get stressed or to make a mess in the kitchen. Just have fun, relax and be creative. The icing is stress-free too, just add the chocolate and double cream to a saucepan and slowly simmer until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture has thickened. 

I hope you enjoy making this cake just as much as I did. Let me know in the comments how you decide to decorate your cake. I recommend giving the ‘Death by Chocolate’ cake a go.