Chocolate cakes, cakes, pies - some masterpieces are not invented in the confectionery area from such a universal product like chocolate! The best part is that most of them can be “recreated” at home without the help of professionals. The main thing is to show a little bit of diligence, patience and fantasy - and an elegant chocolate product will proudly show off on the festive table!
Chocolate cake - general principles and methods of cooking
The main “hero” of our article will be chocolate cake in its various variations. After all, think, instead of the on-duty chocolate cake, guests can serve no less tasty delicacy - chocolate cake. If it is properly prepared, following the elementary rules, the result will be simply excellent.
It should be noted that the taste of the cake with cocoa powder is significantly different from the cake, which added real dark chocolate, so it is recommended to put only chocolate in such a product. If desired, it can be combined with cocoa or a small amount of instant coffee. By the way, there are many recipes for pies with the addition of white chocolate, which is no less valuable in cooking.
For the fluffiness of the dough, housewives usually add baking powder or a small amount of soda (either pure or quenched in acid). Fruits, vegetables, berries, fruit purees and jams, condensed milk, nuts (they can also be added to the dough) and other confectionery ingredients can be fully used as a filling.
Chocolate Cake - Food Preparation
One of the main components of our cake is chocolate. It is from its quality and “naturalness” that the taste of the final product will depend. If you can taste the chocolate before you buy it, do it without delay. As a rule, real dark chocolate melts very quickly in the mouth, leaving no cream on the skin. If the “chocolate” is made from cheap vegetable oils with the addition of cocoa, its melting point increases significantly, so this product in the mouth will not immediately melt. In addition, it leaves behind an oil residue on the tongue. A cake made from natural chocolate differs significantly in taste and aroma from a fake product cake. Chocolate Cake - Best Recipes
Recipe 1: Chocolate Brownie Cake
Chocolate “Brownie” is a delicious dessert cake of American origin, which traditionally has a flat rectangular shape. Depending on the cooking time, the “Brownies” turn out to be internally liquid, moist and slightly dried. Its delicate flavor, like chocolate, melts in your mouth! After all, no wonder the pie is loved by all Americans. At will “brownies” can be added with nuts or icing sugar, and serve with whipped cream.
Ingredients:
- flour 150 gr.
- 1-2 table. l cocoa powder
- 120 gr. butter
- 200 gr. dark chocolate
- soda on the tip of a spoon
- 0.5 gr. vanilla (half a pack)
- 200 gr. fine sugar
- three eggs
- a pinch of salt
Method of preparation:
1. Sift flour, mix it with soda and cocoa powder (you can sift together with these ingredients). Grind the bitter chocolate and together with the butter we melt on the stove using a water bath or in a microwave oven. Pour sugar into the resulting chocolate-butter mixture and mix until it dissolves.
2. Separately, beat three eggs, then gently, kneading, lay out the foam in the chocolate mixture. Beat all the mixer. Next, we begin to pour flour mixed with cocoa and soda, and then again thoroughly beat the base with a mixer.
3. The oven is heated to 170-190C. Pan we covered with parchment, grease and pour our base. We send the cake to the heat and bake for 20 to 50 minutes (depending on which cake you want to get: wet inside or dried) and enjoy the tea party!
Recipe 2: Chocolate cake with cottage cheese balls
Amazing chocolate flavor combined with balls of cheese will take you into the atmosphere of joy and light celebration. By the way, cottage cheese balls can be made simply as an independent dessert. You should definitely try both. But first - the cake!
Ingredients:
Balloons:
- two yolks
- 250 gr. cottage cheese
- 40-60 gr. Sahara
- coconut chips - about 50 grams. - starch - about three table. spoons
Dough:
- 4 eggs (yolks and proteins separately)
- 50 gr. chocolate
- 70 gr. Sahara
- flour - about 2 tbsp. lie
- starch - 2 table. lie
- cocoa powder - three table. lie
- on the tip of the knife baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- vanilla - two bags
Glaze:
- 2 table. spoons of sugar, cocoa and water
- 20-30 gr. butter
Method of preparation:
1. Balls: we wipe the cottage cheese, mix with sugar, chips, starch, yolks and mix everything until a thick homogeneous mass is formed. We moisten hands and from the obtained curd base we start to form balls (small in size). Put them off in a cool place.
2. Dough: beat the yolks with 30 gr. sugar and vanilla to thick foamy mass. Melt the chocolate in a water bath and mix it with yolks whipped with sugar. Mix the flour with starch, baking powder, cocoa and salt, then sift together. Pour the flour into the yolk-chocolate mixture. With the rest of the sugar (for the dough), beat the whites to a thick skin and gently add the meringue into the dough, gently stirring with a whisk, so as not to disturb the air structure of the meringue. We get the dough.
3. Heat the oven, put the curd balls in a split (lubricated) form, pour the dough on top and bake the cake for about forty minutes at 175-180C. While the product is being baked, prepare the glaze: mix the dry ingredients, first with water, then with the flooded butter. Thoroughly rub everything until sugar dissolves. We pour the cake with the obtained glaze after we get it out of the oven. And now you can drink tea with an amazing curd-chocolate cake.
Recipe 3: Chocolate Rhubarb Cake with White Chocolate
An open-type cake made from shortcrust pastry and original rhubarb, white chocolate and cream filling will pleasantly surprise real connoisseurs of homemade cakes. The perfect complement to a cup of coffee! Actually, the “highlight” of the cake is a reddish rhubarb stem. Due to its spicy taste with a slight sourness, it is often used for confectionery purposes. Ingredients:
For the test:
- flour 250 gr.
- a pinch of salt
- icing sugar 3-4 spoons
- 150 gr. butter (butter margarine)
- one egg
- 1-2 table. l cream
For filler:
- 100 gr. cream
- 100 gr. white chocolate
- two eggs
- vanilla
- 3-4 sugar table. lie
- 300-400 gr. rhubarb stalks
Method of preparation:
1. Mix the flour with salt, powdered sugar. Grind butter, mix it with flour and grind it to crumbly. In the mixture, break the egg and add cream. All mash, but do not knead, and quickly collect the dough into a ball. Then put it in the bag and remove to the cold, where we withstand for 30-40 minutes.
2. While the dough is cooling, heat very much (you can bring to a boil) liquid cream on the stove and melt the chocolate in them, not forgetting about constant stirring. Rhubarb is washed, cleaned of unnecessary elements (stalks and leaves) and cut the stems into small rings. In the creamy chocolate mixture add eggs, vanilla and sugar. Beat everything until uniform.
3. We take out the dough, level it on the bottom and side walls of a removable form, oiled, spread the diced rhubarb on the dough and fill it with chocolate and cream filling.
4. Send the cake to the oven (preheated to 200C) and bake for about half an hour. Before serving, sprinkle the product with powdered sugar and serve it to the table. It turned out very tasty!
Recipe 4: Chocolate Cheesecake with Strawberry Jam and Bananas
Cheesecake is a popular cheese (or cottage cheese) dessert in the United States and Europe. There are many secrets of its preparation. In this recipe we will try to reveal the main ones. Cooking chocolate cheesecake with strawberries and bananas does not take too much time, and the result is guaranteed to deliver true enjoyment to all members of your family.
Ingredients:
- fat cottage cheese 600 gr.
- fat sour cream 100 gr.
- four eggs
- 150 gr. Sahara
- four table. cocoa spoons
- one banana
- two spoons of semolina
- a pinch of salt
- Strawberry jam
Method of preparation: 1. Rub the curd until all grains are removed. Separate the yolks from proteins, whip proteins with salt. Then add half the sugar and beat until thick meringue. Then whisk with the remaining sugar yolks.
2. Combine mashed cottage cheese, whipped yolks, proteins, cocoa and fat sour cream. All thoroughly mixed.
3. At the bottom of the form we line the parchment, lubricate the surface with butter, sprinkle evenly with semolina. Pour half of the base for the cheesecake into the mold, lay bananas sliced into slices or cubes on top and fill with the remaining base.
4. We send cheesecake in the oven, preheated to 170-200 gr. and bake the cake for one hour. Upon reaching readiness, we obtain a cheesecake and after cooling, remove it from the mold. Pour jam, decorate with berries and serve delicacy to the table. Enjoy your meal!
Chocolate Cake - useful tips from experienced chefs
- To bake the cake evenly inside and outside, do not leave voids on the baking sheet around it;
- Warm airy chocolate cake should be cut into portions with a hot knife in order to avoid its deformation and disintegration;
- Slam the oven door in the baking process is not recommended, since the cake can “settle” quickly enough;
- If the chocolate cake begins to burn slightly ahead of time, place a container with cold water under it (in the corner of the oven).
