Chocolate Cake for Easter

The most indulgent chocolate cake to grace my table is this one that I made in collaboration with the Central England Co-Operative.  Unlike most chocolate cakes, it's not dry as it has evaporated milk in the recipe.  It's slathered in a rich and creamy chocolate ganache and is decorated with rather a lot of chocolate mini eggs along with some decadent praline animals.

It's certainly not a cake you'd make every week, but for special occasions and a little indulgent treat, this is the cake sure to be a hit with any chocolate lover.

All of my ingredients were sourced from my local Co-Operative, and where possible, FairTrade ingredients were used.

Cake:

300g Self raising flour

340g Caster sugar

40g Cocoa

150g Butter (room temp)

3 Large eggs

110g Evaporated Milk

80g Water

5ml Vanilla extract

Ganache:

200g Dark chocolate

100g Milk chocolate

250ml Double cream

Decoration:

Cadbury Mini eggs (my cake took 9 bags)

Box of Co-Operative Spring praline chocolates

1. Heat the oven to 180℃.

2. Grease and line two 20cm/8" cake tins.

3. In a large bowl place all the cake ingredients.

4. Mix together for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

5. Divide equally between the two cake tins.

6. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

7. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out into a wire rack to cool completely.

Whilst the cakes are cooling, now is the time to get your ganache ready. 

8. In a saucepan, break the chocolate into squares and add the cream.

9. Heat very gently until the chocolate has melted, stirring frequently.

10. Remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl, then set aside to cool and set.

11. When the cakes are cold and the ganache has set, use ¼ of the ganache to sandwich the cakes together.

12. Place the cakes onto a serving plate and use the other ¾ of the ganache to thickly coat the sides and top of the cake. Don't worry about it being perfectly smooth and pretty as you're going to decorate the sides and top with lots and lots of mini eggs.

13. Starting at the bottom, place a row of mini eggs all around the cake, adding extra layers until you either run out of mini eggs, or you've covered the sides completely. 

14. Decorate the top of the cakes with the spring praline chocolates.

You won't want a large slice of this cake unless you're a raving chocoholic with the sweetest tooth known to man, so this cake will certainly go a very, very long way indeed!  You could even (perish the thought!) share it with friends and neighbours, as I did!

Happy Easter, enjoy my recipe xx

I was sent a voucher from the Central England Co-Operative to buy ingredients with which to create a recipe for them.