Ultimate Chocolate Cake

• Ingredients
  · 200g dark chocolate, about 60% cocoa solids
  · 200g butter, cut in pieces
  · 1 tbsp instant coffee granules
  · 85g self-raising flour
  · 85g plain flour
  · 0.25 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  · 200g light muscovado sugar
  · 200g golden caster sugar
  · 25g Cocoa powder
  · 3 medium Eggs
  · 75ml Buttermilk (I used ½ milk ½ water)
  · 1 handful chocolate curls, or grated chocolate, to decorate
  For the ganache
  · 200g dark chocolate, about 60% cocoa solids, as above
  · 284ml double cream, (pouring type)
  · 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
  

Method

• Butter a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep) and line the base.
• Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas 3.
• Break the chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy-based pan.
• Tip in the butter, then mix the coffee granules into 125ml cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted. (Or melt in the microwave on medium about 5 minutes, stirring half way through.)
• While the chocolate is melting, mix the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps.
• Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk.
• Add the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency.
• Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes
• To check if its cooked push a skewer in the centre, it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit).
• Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely

Make the ganache:

• Chop the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl.
• Pour the cream into a pan, add the sugar, and heat until it is about to boil.
• Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Pour over the cake letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife.
• Decorate with grated chocolate or a pile of chocolate curls. The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days.
• (You can slice the cake into layers & use some ganache to sandwich it together but I didn’t bother. It didn’t last 4 days!)