Double Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almonds Recipe- A birthday favorite

Hello, Hello!

How have you all been in your nooks, endeavors and kitchen? It was the man’s birthday on June 1st and having asked, what cake he wants, he replied: “Make the chocolate cake you make. I love that chocolate cake”. Ah, trumpetsy- I feel so good when they swear by my recipe which is mainly simple, never elaborate and always fail-proof. Just mixing a bit of this and that with a bit of twist and you come clean with food that’s according to the man: “A winner”.

A moist cake that uses cocoa and dark chocolate in a sinful blend- this is seriously chocolate heaven with its lightly smokey smell that it picks up from toasted almonds and layers of different kinds of chocolate that gives it a very distinctive taste. And if you are a chocolate cake addict like me, you’ll keep making it. Trust me on it.

This double Chocolate Cake recipe is my very own and it has never failed me. But there are a couple of things I always follow with all my food:

The quality of the ingredients is very crucial. You can tell the difference when the quality of the ingredients has been compromised with.

I use good quality pure cocoa which has not been through Dutch-Process, free range eggs and vanilla extract and not essence. How can you tell if the cocoa powder is dutched? The color. Dutched cocoa is darker in color than pure cocoa and will not give a fuller flavor. I use free-range eggs because they are definitely more conscious laden if not anything but according to recent studies, “hens that forage daily on a grass range is superior to that of eggs produced by conventional means. The report also suggests that these eggs have higher levels of Omega 3, Vitamin A, E and lower levels of the total fat content, cholesterol and Omega 6.

You know, I’m in my late twenties and it’s important that I start seeing these things. *winky wink*

Anyway, without much further ado, here’s the recipe. I have divided the dry ingredients and wet ingredients- whether a pro or starters, alignment helps!

Double Chocolate cake Recipe Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp of good quality cocoa

A pinch of salt

1 and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

A pinch of baking soda (Its a pinch, not a palm full)

1/3rd cup toasted and chopped almonds

Wet Ingredients

2 large eggs

3/4th cup granulated sugar

100 gram butter (at room temperature. If you live in colder climes, microwave it for 10 secs)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, melted

1 teaspoon-vanilla extract

Directions

Cream* butter and sugar till light and fluffy

Add eggs and beat well.

Pour vanilla extract and give it a stir

In another bowl, sift cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda

Now slowly add the dry mixture into the egg-butter-sugar mixture. Make sure you do it in batches to avoid lumps (professionals in baking- please ignore such tips for I know there are people who read me and learn things up. It is my moral duty to explain things properly. I don’t want them to go through what I go through everyday while searching for recipes 🙂 )

Once it all has been mixed properly and uniformly, add molten chocolate and toasted almonds.

Stir it gently with a wooden spatula and mix it well.

Line a cake tin with baking paper* and pour in the mixture.

In a preheated oven (250 degrees) pop in your cake. Let it be there for 5 minutes and reduce heat to 175 degrees. And I am talking Celsius not Fahrenheit.

Give it 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool.

Chocolate Icing Recipe

2 tbsp of unsalted butter

2 tbsp of molten dark chocolate

A handful of toasted almonds

Wine soaked cherries

Directions

Mix everything except the cherries and simply drizzle it on top.

Place cherries on top!

Voila.

This cake seriously rocks our boat. What are your family favorites? What cake, what flavor rocks your boat? What are your inventions? Would love to hear!

Letting the world know about it here:

Tuesday

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saturday

http://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/love-it-like-it-link-it/love-it-like-it-link-it-7/

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.in/2012/04/sat-nite-special-130-link-party.html

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