Spooky Chocolate Cake with Expresso Ganache

Ok, so as much as I love complicated, 100 step cakes I have to say I really enjoyed creating this simple chocolate cake, it’s rich and fudgey and definitely a recipe you want to add to your recipe book.

This recipe yields 2 round cakes or if you’re feeling spontaneous bake the batter in a sheet pan!I drenched this cake in, yes you’ve guessed it! More chocolate (YUM!!!).

Once the cake was cooled and the expresso ganache had thickened I poured it over the cake and allowed it to set till firm in the fridge, melt some white chocolate and pour it into a piping bag and create spirals around the cake, then using a skewer drag through both layers of chocolate. This will create a web look.

Here is how you can get started on this amazing dessert!

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

3 cup cake flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup full cream yogurt

1 cup buttermilk

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cup strong coffee

3/4 cup coconut oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract/essence

Chocolate ganache & Web

300 g milk chocolate

100 ml fresh cream

1/3 cup white chocolate melted

Chocolate spiders

Chocolate coated malt balls

2 tablespoons white chocolate, melted

MethodChocolate cake

1. Preheat to 170°c. Prepare cake pan or sheet pan with baking paper.

2. Sift together all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk.

3. Add the wet ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until combined.

4. Fold in the wet and dry ingredients until combined. If there are any lumps just whisk through the batter.

5. Pour batter into cake tin or sheet pan and bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool fully before decorating.

Ganache

Roughly chop up the chocolate and place in a microwave safe bowl, add the cream and microwave at 30 second intervals until the chocolate is melted.

AssembleDrench the cooled cake in the expresso ganache, drizzle white chocolate in a spiral (this is best done using a piping bag)Drag a toothpick or skewer through both layers of chocolaye, starting from the middle of the spiral.Voila, you have your webbed cake, now onto the chocolate spidey’s!

Chocolate Spiders

Pipe “V” shaped legs onto baking paper with the melted chocolate. Allow to set at room temp or pop them into the fridge.Place two chocolate malt balls onto the centre of the spiral web and once set place the legs along side it.You can make as many spiders as you’d like!This cake is so delicious, I really hope you try it.