Dark Chocolate Ale Cake (with the Best Fluffy Frosting!)
You might notice the blog is looking a little different today. I have been toying with the idea of moving blog platforms for a while and I decided to just do it. Plus I'm back at work next week so my time is even more precious. There are still bits to clean up and I'm working on it slowly but I hope you like it. I'm happy with a much cleaner look, as I learn more about Squarespace I'll be able to improve the layout even more but, for the meantime, this appeals to the tidy side of me.
Last week was chocolate week and Waitrose got in touch and asked if I would like to bake a special chocolate recipe to showcase the best ingredient in the world - my words not theirs. I L O V E chocolate. It's my favourite thing to bake with and it goes with sooo many other flavours. I'm definitely a huge chocoholic. I chose this golden ale chocolate cake because it sounded dreamy. They have a great selection of chocolate recipes here and I found it really hard to choose so I'm probably going to have a go at a couple of others.
I was given a secret ingredient that I had to use either in the recipe or as a decoration. I got mini marshmallows. Now, I didn't just want to bake a cake and throw loads of mini marshmallows on top willy nilly so I decided that they needed to work their way in somewhere. I heated some double cream and melted the marshmallows to create a thick marshmallow sauce. I left it to cool for ten minutes and then whipped it in with the frosting...
Oh my.
FLUFFIEST FROSTING EVER! In the world.
I can't explain what it did but the frosting was soft, fluffy and three days later hasn't dried out.
Someone has probably already discovered this but it really made a difference. It was almost moussy in consistency and so easy to spread over the cake. I still beat the frosting for a good 3-4 minutes but I've done that before and never had results this good so I can only attribute it to the marshmallow cream. I'm going to try it again in some upcoming cakes so this recipe isn't through the testing stage but I was so excited I had to tell you.
Dark Chocolate Ale Cake with Super Fluffy Frosting
(Recipe from Waitrose.com. I adapted the frosting recipe but only made minor changes to the cake recipe)
250g butter
250ml Golden Ale
250g self-raising flour
40g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
300g caster sugar
125ml whole milk
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
for the frosting:
250g butter, softened
500g icing sugar
20g marshmallows, mini or regular
70ml double cream
20g dark chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon double cream
dark chocolate shavings, to decorate
- Preheat your oven to 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4. Grease and line two 18cm cake tins and set aside.
- Heat the butter and ale in a medium pan over a low heat until the butter has melted. Leave to cool slightly.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda. Whisk in the sugar.
- Beat the eggs, milk and vanilla together in a jug.
- Pour the butter and ale into the dry ingredients, followed by the egg mixture and stir until all the flour has gone.
- Divide between the tins. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before turning out of the tins.
- In a small pan, heat the 70ml of double cream until it starts to bubble then add the marshmallow. On a low heat, keep stirring until the marshmallow has melted into the cream. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Beat the butter for one minute. Sift in the icing sugar and beat slowly in a stand mixer until it all comes together. Add the marshmallow cream and beat on high for 3-4 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
- In a small pan - I used the marshmallow one again - gently melt the chocolate and cream and stir through the frosting to create a marble effect. Warning: this marble effect will disappear when you spend too much time trying to frost the cake but don't worry.
- To assemble your cake, spread a third of the frosting on the bottom layer and place the other layer of cake on top. Spoon the remaining frosting on top and spread over and down the sides until covered.
- Cover the top with chocolate shavings, make these by (safely!) pushing a knife away from you at a 4 degree angle on the back of a cold bar of dark chocolate. Alternatively, grate the chocolate.
