Subj : Ruby Tandoh's Easy Cocoa Birthday Cake To : All From : Ben Collver Date : Sun May 19 2024 09:22:55 MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06 Title: Ruby Tandoh's Easy Cocoa Birthday Cake Categories: Cakes Yield: 6 Servings 275 g Salted butter; very soft 275 g Soft light brown sugar 2 ts Vanilla extract 4 lg Eggs 225 g Plain flour 75 g Cocoa powder 3 ts Baking powder 150 ml Weak black coffee MMMMM------------------------BUTTERCREAM----------------------------- 225 g Salted butter; softened 50 g Cocoa powder 2 ts Vanilla extract 325 g Icing sugar 2 ts Instant coffee; dissolved -in: 2 ts Water This is a simple cocoa powder batter complemented by light brown sugar, vanilla, coffee, and salt. The sugar adds a toffee edge to the sweetness, vanilla and coffee bolster the chocolate flavour, while the salt brings the whole thing into focus. No expensive chocolate, no fuss or fiddly detail just a perfect chocolate cake. You could swap the cocoa buttercream for a richer chocolate ganache, made with dark chocolate melted into an equal weight of scalding double cream, but I think that the heaviness of ganache smothers the mild cocoa kick of the cake. A compromise, if you want something a little more grown up, would be to ice the cake as detailed below, chill it well then glaze with a thin coat of ganache afterwards. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease two 20 cm round cake tins (loose-bottomed or springform are best) and line their bases with circles of baking parchment. Beat the butter with the soft light brown sugar in a large mixing bowl for several minutes, creaming the mix until it is perfectly smooth and light. Stir in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition to minimise clumping and curdling. Stir the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder together, then add this mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing just until smooth. Add the dissolved coffee and fold it in to create a soft, velvety cake batter. Divide the batter between the two prepared tins and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until well-risen and springy to the touch. A small knife inserted into the centre of each cake should emerge with no more than a couple of crumbs stuck to it. Leave the cakes to cool completely in their tins before unmoulding. For the buttercream, beat the butter until smooth, then stir in the cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Sift in the icing sugar a third at a time, mixing well as you go. The buttercream should be luxuriantly thick, but still soft enough to spread on the cakes without ripping them. Add a dash of milk or coffee to slacken the mixture, if necessary. Smooth a thick layer of cocoa buttercream over one of the cooled cake layers, then sandwich with the second layer and ice the top. Spread the remaining cocoa buttercream generously around the sides of the cake. Recipe by Ruby Tandoh Recipe FROM: MMMMM .