I made a chocolate and walnut cake, which turned out delicious as it always does, and it’s very easy to make.
For sponge base:
- Flour – 230 g
- Cocoa powder – 65 g
- Sugar – 260 g
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Baking powder – 10 g
- Milk – 260 g (room temperature)
- Vegetable oil (odourless) – 60 g
- Butter – 60 g (room temperature)
- Eggs (large) – 2
- Walnuts – 100 to 120 g
For chocolate ganache:
- Double cream – 120 g
- Dark chocolate – 120 g
Method is explained step-by-step and illustrated below. Enjoy!
Chop the walnuts into small pieces and put them aside (you can do it in advance).
Sift the flour into a bowl…
… and sift in the cocoa powder.
Add the baking powder…
… and salt…
… and sugar…
… and mix together with a spatula.
You can also start pre-heating your oven to 150 or 160 C at this stage.
You can also start pre-heating your oven to 150 or 160 C at this stage.
Add eggs…
… and oil…
… and butter…
… and milk…
… and whisk together until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Add walnuts and mix them into the batter with a spatula.
Now prepare the baking tray. Cover the bottom with the parchment paper and and grease the bottom and the sides with oil.
… and bake at 150 to 160 C for 50 to 70 mins (use a wooden stick to check readiness: stick it into the middle of the sponge – the stick should come out clean and dry).
Leave for about 5 minutes to cool, then get it out of the tray. Be careful – the sponge is very soft, and the walnuts make it even more so.
Once the sponge has cooled down a bit, flip it over onto the rack and take the parchment paper off it.
Now, make the ganache. Heat up the cream in a saucepan (but do NOT let it boil).
Break the dark chocolate into the saucepan…
… and stir it in to melt.
Run a sharp knife round the sponge to cut off the peaked top.
Do it very carefully, as the sponge crumbs up easily.
Pour the ganache carefully on top of the sponge.
Smooth the ganache with a long icing spatula on top of the cake…
… and on the sides of the cake.
You may decorate the cake any way you like. I used a decorating comb to create a wavy pattern.
And it looks gorgeous…
… and tastes luxuriously chocolatey and delicious! All the chocolate lovers will be in heaven 🙂 Enjoy!
