Death by Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

To me Barista's Death by chocolate cake is absolute bliss :). Inspite of not having a sweet tooth at all, I crave for this all the time. During my initial pre/post wedding days, me and S frequented this place often and it was during one of those visits S ordered this cake and I have been hooked to it since then.  After relocating to the US I never could find its replacement. I have spent so much time on yelp trying to find bakeries and pastry shops which would make something similar, but no luck there :/.

After a lot of contemplation I decided to make the cake myself for S's birthday and Laura Vitales "Devils chocolate cake" did the trick. It seemed to be the exact same replica of the Death by Chocolate cake. When you make this cake I would highly suggest you to blind yourself to the sin laden calories that you will be putting on :). Dont tell me I dint warn you, you wont be able to stop with just one piece of this chocolate rich pastry. The best part is this cake stays well for 4-5 days at room temperature when stored in an air-tight container. One week of happy dessert time I promise ;).

Ingredients

Serves 10 to 12
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 35 mins

For the Ganache:
1 cup of Heavy Cream
9 oz bag of Semisweet Chocolate Chips

For the Cake Batter:
2-1/4 cups of All Purpose Flour
3/4 cups of Cocoa Powder
1 tsp of Salt
1 tsp of Baking Powder
2 tsp of Baking Soda
2 cups of Granulated Sugar
1 cup of water
1 cup of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
1 Tbsp of Instant Coffee Granuals
3 Eggs
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
1/3 cup of Milk

How do you do it

1. Add the cream to a pan and heat it and bring it to a simmer. [Do not boil, just bring it to a simmmer]

2) Pour the cream over the semi-sweet chocolate chips and allow it to sit for a few minutes untouched. Whisk together well until you get a creamy mixture, cover and set aside for a couple hours. The frosting will set during this time.

3) To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spray 2 9” round cake pans with non stick spray and lay the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.

4) In a saucepan, add the water, instant coffee and milk, bring to a simmer and turn off the heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

5) In the bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add the eggs and vanilla and continue to mix until well combined.

6) Add half of the dry ingredients along with half of the milk and water mixture and mix that in, add the remaining half of the dry ingredients and milk mixture and mix just until incorporated.

7) Divide your batter evenly in the prepared pans, tap the pans on the counter just to get rid of any air bubbles.

8) Bake the cakes for 30 to 35 minutes or until cooked through. Allow to cool slightly in the pans, remove the cake from the pans and cool completely on wire racks, a couple of hours.

9) When ready to frost the cake, place one of the cakes upside down on the cake stand/plate and spread 1/4 of the chocolate mixture all over the surface of the cake.

10) Place the other cake on top (this time top side up) and spread remaining chocolate mixture all over the top and sides of the cake.

You can decorate the cake with some almond crunches and a strawberry/cherry on top.

Serving tip: Cut a piece and warm for 10-15 sec in the microwave before you eat, absolute heaven :).

Notes

1. It is important to not over-heat the cream, because if you do the consistency of the ganache will go wrong and the frosting wouldn't set.

2. Completely cool the cakes and frosting before setting the cake.