My Recipe Book

Chocolate Gateau Cake

I first tested this recipe on my parents two years ago. Needless to say, the cake lasted less than a week at our house...

Dense, rich chocolate cake with layers of glistening chocolate whipped cream. Perfect for birthday cakes, gifts, and holidays! I would suggest topping it with raspberries or adding a layer of fruit preserves to break up the density and add a little citrus to an otherwise densely chocolate-flavored cake. 

Below is the recipe for chocolate gateau cake:

Ingredients:

(For the Cake)

2 C Granulated Sugar

1 C Unsalted Butter (Softened)

1/2 TSP Vanilla Extract

3 Large Eggs

2 1/2 C Cake Flour

1 C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

2 TSP Baking Soda

1/2 TSP Salt

1 2/3 C Sour Cream

1/2 C + 3 TBS Milk

1/2 C Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix 

(For the Whipped Cream)

1 C Heavy Cream

1/4 C Powdered Sugar

1 TSP Vanilla Extract

3/4 C Bittersweet Chocolate, Melted

You can either stick with simple, store-bought preserves or..... 

(For the raspberry filling)

1 1/4 C Frozen Raspberries

1 TBS Corn Starch

1/4 C Granulated Sugar

About 2 TBS Lemon Juice (less if you don't like a super tart filling)

Okay. Here's how to make the cake:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a 10 inch round cake tin with baking grease. We don't want your delicious cake to stick to the sides.

Step One: Beat together the sugar, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add eggs. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Step Two: In another small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, pudding mix, sour cream, and milk. Once fully combined, slowly add the contents of this bowl to the butter mixture. Beat together until fully combined and a cake batter texture results.

Step Three: This part I discovered on the Food Network channel, and it works like a dream. Pour the cake batter into the pre-greased cake tin. Bake the cake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, reduce heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for an additional 30-40 minutes. You should check your cake at the halfway point with a cake tester (or a good ol' fashioned fork) to see if the cake is fully baked. There should be no batter on the tester when you pull it out of the cake. :)

Step Four: Pull the cake out of the oven, allowing to cool completely before moving on to assembly.

While the cake is cooling, you can start to make your whipped cream and raspberry fillings!

Here's how to make the chocolate whipped cream:

Combine the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat together with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.

Melt your chocolate. 

Once melted, whisk about half of your whipped mixture into the melted chocolate. Then, fold in the rest with a wooden spoon.

Now, onto the raspberry filling:

In a medium sauce pan, mix the raspberries, sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice together over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the desired thickness is reached.

And that's it folks! Pretty easy, right??

Take a breath. Now it is time to test your creative skills.

The cake is cooled. You have your delicious whipped cream and raspberry fillings ready for assembly. To assemble, you need to slice your cake into two reasonably even layers. It's okay if it isn't perfect! 

Now it is time to grab a frosting spatula and a spoon. Place your first cake layer on a plate (or whatever your cake is going to sit on) and ladle an even coat of your whipped cream onto it. Then, add another even layer of raspberry filling on top of the whipped cream. Place the other layer of cake on top of the layer of raspberry. Now comes the spatula's time to shine. Take the rest of your chocolate whipped cream and spread an even coat over the entire cake. 

(Optional) Top with chopped nuts and some fresh raspberries.

And there you have it! The recipe for an epic chocolate-raspberry gateau. Hope you enjoy it, and let me know in the comments section how yours turns out! Happy Baking, everyone! :))