Death By Chocolate Cake

Please don’t for one second think that the fact that I’m publishing a recipe with the word “death” in its title is a coincidence. There’s death and chocolate cake, and then there’s Death by Chocolate Cake. This is about both.

After I said goodbye for the last time to my biological father over Skype last Friday afternoon, things went south for me pretty quickly. There were loads of tears and an overwhelming urge to bake something. My mind immediately went to a dense and very dark chocolate cake. Death by Chocolate Cake, to be exact.

Baking has always been extremely therapeutic for me, and that lies in the methodology of measuring, mixing and seeing something like a cake batter, so ordinary in its raw form, come to life and completely transform. And at the same time, allowing me to process whatever it is I need to process.

I’m not the type of person to bake and eat what I make, which is why a lot of people in my life have affectionately called me a feeder. And yeah, I like to feed people. Unashamedly. Making food for those I care about is a love language. I get joy out of seeing people enjoying the food I make, and it satisfies a deep desire within me to look after people.

After making sure I had all the ingredients I needed for my therapy session, I decided to park it until the next day and then proceeded to pour myself a glass of wine, have a really hot bath, get into bed, cry a ~~bit~~ lot more and listen to Swedish House Mafia until I passed out around 9 pm.

Solid.

The next morning I woke up, went for breakfast with my mom and sister, drank too much coffee, came home to bake and then dealt with my feelings (as you do).

If you’re into dark chocolate, fudge and don’t dig dry cake, then you’ve come to the right place. I baked this in a loaf pan, which admittedly wasn’t the best idea because the density of it led to it collapsing a bit on itself during the bake. I panicked a bit but thought “fuck it, it’s still going to be delicious”, and it was. If you aren’t prepared to play fast and loose when it comes to cake-baking as I do, then rather split this mixture between two cake tins to be safe.

Ingredients

100g dark chocolate chips
3/4 cups freshly brewed, hot coffee
1 egg
1/3 cup sunflower oil
3/4 cup Greek yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

1/4 cup double cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
30g butter
110g dark chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C, grease and line whatever cake tin (or tins) your decide to use.
Place the chocolate chips in a mixing bowl, add the hot coffee and allow to sit for 5 minutes to soften the chocolate. Stir to combine and set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl whisk the egg until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes.
Add the sunflower oil, yoghurt, vanilla and chocolate coffee mixture to the whisked egg and mix to combine.
Add the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined.
Spoon into the cake tin/tins and place in the oven to bake for around 45 minutes.
While the cake is baking make the ganache glaze by combining the cream, sugar, golden syrup in a small saucepan over a medium-high heat until it just comes to the boil.
Remove from the heat and add the chocolate chips. Allow to stand for 2 minutes and then whisk to combine into a glossy, thick glaze.
Remove the cake from the oven once it’s done and allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling completely on a wire rack.
Cover with the chocolate ganache glaze and leave to set for a few hours or overnight before slicing and serving.