JUICY CHOCOLATE CAKE

We love chocolate desserts and chocolate cakes at home. My husband tells me that if the dessert is not chocolate, then I better not offer it to him hehehehehe. This is one of the most beautiful chocolate cakes I've made, and at the moment of writing the recipe, there is no more from the cake, we just shared the last piece with my son and I made it 2 days ago. It is so so good, a real chocolate pleasure.

Ingredients:

Chocolate sponge cake

• 4 eggs
• 150 g sugar 
• 100 ml of water
• 1 tbs vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150 g white flour 
• 20 g cocoa powder
• 60 ml of oil
• a pinch salt

Chocolate cream filling

• 150 g powdered sugar
• 75 g softened butter
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 50 ml of boiling water
• 70 g melted dark chocolate
• 250 ml whipped cream

Topping for sponge layers

• 100 ml of boiling milk
• 2 full tablespoons of chocolate powder

Glaze

• 1 tablespoon gelatin powder
• 4 tablespoons water

• 30 ml of water
• 50 g sugar
• 75 g dark chocolate
• 10 g cocoa 
• 50 ml whipped cream

Preparation:

For the sponge cake 

1. Beat the eggs with the sugar. 
2. Add the water, vanilla and oil, and mix the dry ingredients aside and gradually add them, stirring gently with a spatula. 
3. Even the mixture and pour it into a mold number 20 (I used a heart shaped mold) lined with baking paper. 
4. Bake for about 30 minutes at 180 C (350 F) degrees. After baking, cool nicely and cut the sponge cake horizontally into 3 parts.
   
   
   

For the cream filling

1. Whisk the powdered sugar with the butter for several minutes.
2. Add the cocoa, hot water and melted chocolate and whisk well. 
3. Whisk the whipped cream aside and add it to the chocolate filling and whisk together. 
4. Put the filling in the fridge.
   

For glaze

1. Put the gelatin in 4 tablespoons of water.
2. Boil 30 ml of water with the sugar, add the chocolate, cocoa and whipped cream and mix until the mixture is smooth. 
3. Finally, add the gelatin and mix well. You should get a liquid chocolate mixture. 
4. Set aside and stir occasionally. 
5. Once the glaze has cooled to about 30 C degrees (60F), strain it through a strainer and then apply it on the cold cake.

Constructing the cake

Before you start constructing the cake, prepare the topping and boil the milk with the chocolate powder.

1. Take a crust, sprinkle it with hot chocolate milk and apply the filling. 
   
2. Repeat the procedure with the other two crusts, finally coating the whole cake with the filling.
3. Put the cake in the fridge for 1 hour. 20 minutes before taking it out of the fridge, prepare the glaze, cool it and strain it. The ideal temperature for application is 30 C degrees. 
4. Apply it on the cake and put it in the fridge for 2 hours. 
5. Finally, decorate it additionally with whipped cream or if desired.
   
   
   

Note - this glaze is a mirror glaze, it is shiny after it is applied and it stays that way. It lost its shine in my case because I put it in the freezer.