The Devonshire at home – Death by Chocolate Cake
Chara is the Deputy General Manager at The Devonshire Arms Hotel & Spa, Bolton Abbey, and has been perfecting her baking skills during the lockdown. Here she shares a wonderful chocolate cake recipe with us, that is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth!
You will need:
For the cake:
275 grams plain flour
3 level tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 level teaspoon baking powder
215 grams caster sugar
3 tablespoons golden syrup
3 large eggs, beaten
225ml sunflower oil
225ml milk
For the icing:
450 grams plain chocolate
200 grams unsalted butter
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 160° and grease two 20cm cake tins, lining the base of each tin with baking paper.
Into a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Add the sugar and mix with a wooden spoon.
Making a well in the dry ingredients, and add in the golden syrup, eggs, oil and milk and beat all together briskly with your spoon.
When the batter is smooth, pour into the prepared tins.
Bake for about 35 minutes, or until well risen. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes and then turn out to cool on a wire rack. Cut each of the two cakes horizontally to make layers.
To make the chocolate icing, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Watch constantly and remove from the heat when the chocolate has just melted. Stir until smooth and then add in the butter. Stir briskly until smooth. Leave aside to cool. It will thicken a little on standing.
On the first (bottom) piece of cake, spread some of the chocolate icing. You could also add a thin layer of raspberry jam if you are that way inclined. Continue stacking and sandwiching the layers together with the chocolate icing. Pour the remaining icing over the cake, spreading the icing to cover the sides of the cake. Leave it to set and then decorate as you’d like – Chara likes to use a micro plain to grate some chocolate over the top.
We'd love to see your cake creations, so be sure to tag us on social media! Facebook @devonshirearms Instagram @devarmsboltonabbey