Chocolate Yogurt Cake

*Adapted from Fauzia's Kitchen 

Pre-heat your oven at 175 C and grease/line an 8" round pan.

TIPS:
• Make sure everything is at room temperature when you start.
• Sift the flour with the self raising flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda two or three times just to aerate it, makes the cake very light and fluffy.
• If the yoghurt you are using is too watery, you can thicken it by pouring it into a cheesecloth/muslin cloth, and tie it in such a way that it can hang for a while, all the excess water will drain out and you will be left with a lovely thick yoghurt.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar, grinded to a powder (200gm)
½ cup butter or margarine (112gm)
1 cup all-purpose/plain flour (120gm)
½ cup self-rising flour (60gm) ( or 1/2 cup flour+3/4 spoon baking powder and a pinch salt)
½ cup cocoa powder (60gm)
1 cup heavy thick yoghurt (200ml)
½ cup milk (100ml)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1 ½  tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt ( if using salted butter skip it, I skipped)

Instructions

1. Add the grinded sugar to the butter/margarine, and cream together until light and fluffy. Don't rush past this stage, it is the one that will determine the texture of your final results, so do it for at least 7-10 minutes. I use grinder for it mostly

2. Now add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla essence. Add the yoghurt and milk and beat well, then remove the mixer/machine and take a wooden spoon to do rest of steps.

3.  Add in the flour ingredients in two or three additions, folding it in after each addition. Do not over mix, just fold until everything is well incorporated. Pour into your pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave the cake in the pan for about 5 minutes, then turn it over on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the ganache, I didn't want it too thick because I wanted some of it to be absorbed into the cake.

Ingredients

½ cup whipping cream (100ml)
150 gm. dark cooking chocolate, chopped and at room temperature ( I used normal dark chocolate+ milk chocolate in market)

Instructions

Heat the cream until it almost starts to boil around the edges. Remove from the heat and add in the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth.

Slice the cake in half, add half of the ganache to the center place the second half of the cake and pour the rest over the top, letting it drip down the sides. Garnish if you want with nuts or chocolate flakes. I used some strawberry and almond flakes on top.

Belgian Double Chocolate Cake ( with Fudge Icing)

Recipe is inspired from here

Ingredients

180 gm flour ( 1 1/2 cups)

60gm cocoa powder (1/2 cup)

125gm butter ( about 3/4 cup)

125gm sugar ( I used almost 1 cup)

3 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

three quarter cup milk (3/4 cup)

2 tsp vanilla essence

75 gm chopped chocolate (i used dark chocolate)

3 tbsp chopped walnuts ( one can use hazelnuts too)

Some walnuts for sprinkling on top.

Method.

1.Grease and line an 8 or 9 inch baking pan. I used a heart shaped cake tin and lined it with baking paper. One can line with a foil and grease it and sprinkle some cocoa/ flour on it too.

2.Cream butter with sugar, then add eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Or else one can cream them using a electric mixer to save time.

3.Sieve flour with cocoa, salt ( if unsalted butter), vanilla essence and baking powder. Gradually add flour and milk in three instalments, mixing until just incorporated, do not over mix. Add the chopped chocolate and nuts.

TIP: Dust the nuts and chopped chocolate in some flour before adding them to the batter. This will help prevent them from sinking during baking.

4. Fold gently and pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 C for about 30minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool then either frost with chocolate ganache or lightly dust some icing sugar. I frosted it with Fudge Icing

Recipe (to cover an 8" cake)

2 tbsp margarine/butter

8 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

half tsp vanilla essence

some milk

Heat the margarine until it melts, keep the heat on low.

Sieve the icing sugar with the cocoa together, then add this into the melted margarine.

Stir together, then slowly add milk a teaspoon at a time. You will need about 5-8 tsp so just have a bowl of milk next to you and keep adding and stirring until you reach a smooth consistency.

The icing will thicken as it cools so keep it a bit thinner than what you want the final results to look like. Add the vanilla and turn off the heat, immediately ice your cake and sprinkle crushed nuts or cake crumbs. Give it a few minutes to set, and serve!! :)

Note: cakes crack due to overheating so keep temperature less if your cake cracks....also bake in the middle shelf to avoid burnt crusts.