Choco-coffee cake with white chocolate ganache filling

I started baking cakes just few months ago.And i can't get enough of it.I usually make a chocolate cake at home but yesterday i thought of experimenting a bit and added a coffee twist in the chocolate cake.Surprisingly it was a success.To compliment the taste of the bittersweet cake i made a white chocolate ganache filling and to make this cake look sassy i have made a simple yet pretty chocolate lace.Unfortunately,i couldn't click any step-wise pictures as it was just an experiment.But i shall try to be as clear as possible while explaining the method.To make it simple i'll be breaking this recipe into 3 parts-choco-coffee cake,white chocolate ganache and dark chocolate lace.

Choco-coffee cake recipe 

Ingredients Serves-6 people

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4th cup of sugar
• 1/4th cup of vegetable/canola oil
• 3/4th cup of hot water
• 1 heap tbsp of strong coffee (i used Nescafe)
• 2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4th tsp of baking soda
• 1/4th tsp of vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice/vinegar
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Sift flour,coco powder,coffee powder,baking soda,baking powder,salt in a bowl.
2. Add sugar,hot water,oil and vanilla essence in a bowl and stir till the sugar dissolves.
3. Once the sugar is dissolved add the sifted dry ingredients part by part.Mix gently.Don't over stir the mixture.
4. Remove the whistle and rubber band and preheat the pressure cooker for 5-10 minutes in medium flame.Before preheating add in a wire stand or perforated plate inside the cooker.So that the cake while it's baking does not get the direct heat.
5. Once the cooker is preheated add the lemon juice or vinegar to the cake mixture and stir.
6. Pour the cake batter into the greased tin and place it inside the cooker.
7. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes in low flame.Poke a tooth pick in the center of the cook to check it's cooked or not.If any wet mixture comes out on the surface of the toothpick bake it for another couple of minutes.Your chocolate and coffee cake is ready.In the cake that i made here i baked 2 chocolate coffee cakes and made 4 layers out of it.

Tips

1. To give it more of a coffee taste reduce the cocoa powder to 1 tbsp and add 2 tbsp of coffee powder.
2. Grease the tin with oil and sprinkle flour to reduce the chances of the cake sticking to the tin.
3. Sometimes the sides and the bottom of the cake might get hard.Trim those portions .
4. Try to use a sharp knife.Serrated knife is preferred.
5. For baking it in the oven, preheat the oven(convection mode) for 5 minutes and bake it at 180 degree's for 30-40 minutes. Try the toothpick test before taking it out of the oven. 

Whipped white chocolate ganache recipe
Ingredients

• 2 cups of chopped white cooking chocolate
• 1 cup of Amul fresh cream
• 1-2 tsp of coffee powder(optional)

Method

1. Pour the fresh cream in a pan and place it over low flame.
2. Once bubbles start forming around the edges switch off the gas and add in the chopped white chocolate.
3. Keep it as it is for 5 minutes.After 5 minutes mix in the chocolate.The chocolate should melt into the cream.
4. It'll look runny but once it's chilled it'll thicken up.Refrigerate it for at least 4 hours.Overnight is preferable.
5. If you wish you could even infuse coffee powder into the ganache.
6. After refrigerating it i added the coffee powder and whipped it till soft peaks.

Tips :-

1. Don't keep the cream on the gas for longer.The cream burns quickly.
2. Before filling the cake chill the cake for at least for 2 hours.

Chocolate lace recipe
Ingredients

• Melted chocolate
• coffee powder (optional)
• vanilla essence (optional)
• Parchment paper
• piping bag or squeeze bottle

Method

1. Cut the parchment paper according to the height and breadth of the cake.Don't have to be precise while doing so.Eyeball it and keep the length of the parchment paper a bit above than the length of the actual cake.
2. Add vanilla essence and coffee powder into the piping bag or squeeze bottle.
3. Now the fun part begins.Scribble random circles on the parchment paper.Cover the entire parchment paper this way.While making the random circles make sure that there are no gaps between the circles.The circles should overlap each-other.So that once the lace is wrapped around the cake it does not breaks away.
4. Once the lace partly solidifies  carefully wrap it around the cake.Before lacing the cake i had covered the cake with whipped ganache.
5. Keep the laced cake in the fridge for 10 minutes.After 10 minutes gently remove the parchment paper.There shouldn't be any difficulty in doing so.If any excess lace remains once you done lacing then take a knife dipped in hot water.wipe it and run down the knife on the lace.The excess part will detach easily.

Tips:-

1. Melt the chocolate using a double boiler.
2. I used compound/cooking chocolate.I used the brand Morde.

Your cake is ready to take the center stage and dazzle everyone.All you need to do is serve it and let them Eat it up with joy. :)