Deep dark chocolate Birthday Cake and Kayfa haalukum?

God alone knows why this recipe didn't make it here till now even though it was one of the best cakes I have ever baked and my first one with frosting made from scratch !

Now the occasion has got to be special and yes, it was for my hubby's 30th birthday ! 

Let me dive straight into the details of the recipe as I am a bit pressed for time these days ! Why? Coz' I have started Arabic classes as part of my new year resolution. :-) Though, it eats away a lot of my free time, I am truly enjoying the classes and the multi-cultural crowd out there. Pursuing an activity / joining a club/taking a class is something I urge you guys you to do. Time always poses a major constraint for all of us , but don't we all in the end owe some time to ourselves as an individual and not just to the wife/mother/employee !

Back to the recipe. I have adapted it verbatim from Divya's space who in turn got it from Hershey's and boy, wasn't it perfect?I had actually wanted to try out some recipes in advance to get the perfect cake but as one would predict, I had absolutely no such luxury of time .I just went ahead, researched for the perfect recipe the day before , bought the ingredients, said a little prayer and just went ahead.  The pressure was tripled coz not just because of the expectations of the better half, but also due to the presence of both my parents and in-laws which implied that it had to be the perfect-est-est cake ever !

It was sinfully decadent  and the best (in hubby's words) I have baked ever.. ! Ofcourse,  it could do so much better on the looks department and pardon me for the pics, they have been taken in such a hurry right before the cake-cutting as we were running late for a dinner.

DEEP DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE
Adapted verbatim from Divya's Easycooking


Ingredients
Sugar - 2 cups
All Purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups
Hershey's Cocoa - 3/4 cup [ Cadbury's]
Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Eggs - 2
Milk - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Boiling water - 1 cup [ Original recipe called for some coffee powder which I omitted as hubby is not a fan of its flavour]

Method

• Cakes

Heat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes.

Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in the pans, remove and then cool completely.

• Frosting

Dark Chocolate - 200 gms [ chopped ]
Cream - 200 ml

In a pan boil the cream on a low flame till it heats up and bubbles start forming on the sides of the pan.
Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolates.
Stir well and let it cool to room temperature.

• Assembling the Cake

In a serving plate place one cake and spread 1/3 of the ganache.
Place the next cake over it and cover it with 1/2 of it.
Spread the rest of the ganache all over the cake.
I garnished it with some chocolate sprinkles and kiwi slices.
Chill and serve.

Note:

I did actually try to make the chocolate hearts with some white chocolate and also dark chocolate, white chocolate ended up as a disaster due to over-heating in the microwave. Whereas, the dark chocolate hearts did not end up looking so heart-shaped (read presentable).

How we liked it?

The recipe was so easy to follow,with easily available ingredients and ofcourse the end result was that I could see my husband literally smacking his fingers clean and it was such a true delight seeing the family enjoy every bite of it.

Thank you so much Divya for putting across the perfect recipe. God bless !

Adieu amigos until the next post that is if the husband doesn't kill me for declaring his age PUBLICALLY on the internet !