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Recipe Detail Page
Sweet & Salty Chocolate Cake with Crunchy Topper
Early Summer 2020
Who can resist a decadent piece of rich chocolate cake, right? Lightly salted but otherwise classic, this style of cake is totally customizable. The switch-up is a fast ganache for the icing (which is easily doubled if you want to ice the cake sides). Get creative with the toppings. Chocolate-covered (or plain) pretzels and roasted peanuts are a good starting point. On set, our food stylist added crumbled OMG Clusters (a mix of graham, toffee bits and nuts). Broken cookies, donut pieces or chocolate-dipped strawberries make for fun additions as well. See TIP for make‑ahead instructions.
Makes 8 large or 16 small servings
Butter for greasing pans
Cocoa for dusting
CHOCOLATE CAKE
¾ cup (175 mL) cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (250 mL) hot water
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk
1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla
2½ cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) kosher salt
½ tsp (2 mL) baking powder
½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda
1 cup (250 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly cool
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 cup (250 mL) lightly packed brown sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
GANACHE AND TOPPING
1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream
8 to 9 oz (225 to 255 g) good-quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 mL) small chocolate-covered or plain pretzels, broken a little
¼ cup (60 mL) roasted peanuts
1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
2 Grease three 9-inch (23-cm) round cake or springform pans with butter. Line with parchment paper. Lightly dust with cocoa.
3 To prepare cake, whisk cocoa powder with hot water in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in buttermilk and vanilla.
4 In a separate large bowl, whisk flour with salt, baking powder and baking soda.
5 Place butter in bowl of stand mixer. Using whisk attachment, beat over low speed until fluffy. Slowly beat in both sugars. Beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in one-third flour mixture, then half of cocoa-buttermilk mixture. Repeat additions, until blended after each addition, ending with flour mixture. Don’t worry if mixture separates a little; it will come back together with the final addition of flour. Be careful not to over-mix.
6 Divide and evenly pour into prepared cake pans. Lightly tap on the counter.
7 Bake in centre of preheated oven for 35 to 55 minutes until a cake tester inserted into centre of each cake comes out clean. Remove to cooling racks. Let cool for 10 minutes, then turn cakes out onto cooling racks, top-side down. Let cool completely.
8 Meanwhile, prepare ganache. Pour whipping cream into a small saucepan. Set over medium and heat until hot and steaming, 3 to 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn the cream. Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour hot cream over chocolate. Using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, stir until very smooth. Let stand to firm up a little, about 45 minutes.
9 When cakes are completely cool, set 1 layer on a cake plate or serving dish. Using a serrated knife, cut off and even out top so it’s level. Pour one-third of ganache overtop. Spread to edges. Repeat with remaining cake layer and ganache. Spread some of the ganache over the edges.
10 Just before serving, sprinkle top with broken pretzels and peanuts and cut into wedges.
Makes 8 large or 16 small servings
TIP Ideally this cake is enjoyed the day it’s made. If making ahead, ganache-iced cake will keep well covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving. Un-iced cake layers can also be tightly wrapped and frozen for a week or 2. Defrost until at room temperature and proceed with preparing ganache.
