Chocolate Remedy

Sometimes, we can all use a little pick me up, and what better way to do it that with a delicious piece of chocolate cake?

This is a large recipe, so you may like to halve it, or make it when you are expecting a crowd…there is no such thing as too much chocolate cake after all!

You will need:

For the cake:
1 1/8 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting the pans
1 1/2 cup boiling water
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 tbsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
300g unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pans
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
6 eggs

For the icing:
125g unsweetened chocolate
1 cup cream cheese
150g unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
Dash of salt
2 1/2 cups icing sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Butter 2 large, rectangular baking pans (13- x 9-inch) and line them with baking paper. Butter the paper and dust the pans with cocoa (you could use flour, but cocoa adds both color and flavor to your cake). Hold the pans over a sink and give them a gentle tap so the excess cocoa floats off.

Measure the cocoa powder into a bowl, and whisk in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water until it is smooth, dark and so glossy it reminds you of chocolate pudding. Whisk in the milk and vanilla.

In another bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda and salt.

Put the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat in the sugars until the mixture is light, fluffy and the color of coffee with cream (it will take about 5 minutes). One at a time, add the eggs, beating each for about 20 seconds before adding the next. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches and the cocoa mixture in 2, alternating flour-cocoa-flour-cocoa-flour.

Pour half of the batter into each pan and smooth the tops. Bake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. Let the pans rest on cooling racks for 2 minutes, then turn the cakes onto racks to cool completely before frosting.

To make the icing: Chop the chocolate and melt it in a double boiler. Let it cool so that you can comfortably put your finger in it. While it’s cooling, mix the butter with the whipped cream cheese. Add the chocolate, the vanilla, a dash of salt and mix in the confectioners’ sugar until it looks like frosting.

Assemble the cake by spreading about a third of the icing on one of the cooled layers, putting the second layer on top and swirling the rest of the icing over the top and sides.