Chocolate Overdose Cake and 3rd Anniversary !

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Collaborative Curry turns 3 this month ! I can't believe it ! I am so grateful to you all, for being with me in this wonderful journey. Things were a little different when we started this blog. The cofounder, Sunitha doesn't blog here any more.

I wasn't sure whether I would be able to do this alone. You can imagine how life can be, with two kids and their after school activities. I must thank Sunitha and my better half for being so supportive. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have been talking about Collaborative Curry's third anniversary, today ! That I'm sure !

I am so thankful to each one of you, my dear readers ! Your support kept me going. Thanks for your patience when I was slow in posting here. Thanks for your valuable comments and appreciations when I needed someone tell me, I am doing a good job. I am thankful for the friendships I made through blogging. Thank you !

Now I hope I continue blogging about food and Collaborative Curry celebrates many more anniversaries in the years to come !

September is such a special month for me.It is the month of celebrations. M and I got married in September. We became parents for the first time in this same month. And yes, Collaborative Curry is also born in September. To celebrate all these ,I have this super chocolately cake for you !

I wanted to bake nothing less than a chocolate cake for my dear daughter's birthday slumber party. She is a chocoholic ! But then I didn't want to bake a usual chocolate cake. My search for a special chocolate cake landed here, and I am glad that I impressed my daughter and her friends. They loved this cake.

Didn't we all think that our mom and Dad could do anything in the world, when we were young ? It is the same with my kids. They think that their Mom can make any kind of cake and cookies they could imagine ! When they see something new in the local grocer's bakery, they tell each other, let's ask Amma whether she can make this one for us. Isn't it cute ? They are happy even when Amma makes a frosting look like this, nothing near to perfection. I am grateful ! At least for them, I am best baker in the world.

If you are planning to bake something for your loved one, who loves chocolate, don't think twice, make this and surprise them ! Trust me, this is the best you could come up with, to win their heart. In other words, there is no other chocolate cake like this, period.

Disclaimer:

1. This is not for the faint-hearted. We are going to talk about 2lbs of chocolate and 2 pints of heavy cream in addition to 3/4 cup of butter !
2.This is really time consuming, but totally worth it !

Preparation Time: 1 1/2 hour
Baking Time: 30 min
Waiting time: 1hr +1hr
Serves- 8-10
Adapted From: Confections of a foodie birdie

Ingredients:

For the brownie base:
Cake flour- 1/2 cup + 2Tbsp
Salt- a pinch
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Unsweetened chocolate,chopped- 3 oz
Unsalted Butter- 6Tbsp,cut into one inch pieces
Granulated Sugar- 1 generous cup
Eggs- 2 large
Pure Vanilla Extract- 2 1/2 tsp

For Chocolate Mousse filling:

Semisweet Chocolate,broken into pieces- 6 oz
Heavy Cream- 1 3/4 cup + 2Tbsp
Granulated Sugar- 1 Tbsp

For Chocolate Cake:

All purpose flour- 3/4 cup + 2Tbsp
Baking soda- 3/4 tsp
Salt- 1/4 tsp
Unsweetened Chocolate- 2 oz
Dutch processed cocoa- 2 Tbsp
Hot water- 1/4 cup
Buttermilk- 1/2 cup
Pure Vanilla extract- 1 1/2 tsp
Eggs- 2 large + 1 egg yolk
Granulated Sugar- scant 1 cup
Unsalted Butter,softened- 6Tbsp

For Ganache:

Heavy Cream - 1 1/4 cup
Unsalted Butter- 1 1/2 Tbsp
Semisweet chocolate,chopped- 15 oz

Method:

To make Brownie:

1.Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch spring-form pan with parchment paper. Grease the pan with non stick cooking spray.
2.Preheat oven at 325 degree F.
3.Whisk together the flour,salt and baking powder, set aside.
3.Melt butter and chocolate together in a microwave or using a double boiler.Stir in between.
4.When this mixture is smooth, add sugar and whisk together.
5.Add eggs one at a time and mix well until everything is combined.Mix in vanilla.
6.Add flour mixture in two additions and fold in using a rubber spatula.
7.transfer the batter into pan and even the surface using an offset spatula.
8.Bake for ~25 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean.
9.Cool on a wire rack for about an hour. Don't take cake, out from the pan. We will be assembling the cake in this pan.

To make Cake:

1.Line the bottom of a 9 inch pan with parchment paper. Grease by spraying it with non stick cooking spray.
2.Preheat oven at 325 degree F.
3.Whisk together flour,salt and baking soda, set aside.Mix vanilla in buttermilk,set aside.
4.Combine chocolate, cocoa and hot water in a heat proof bowl. Set this bowl over a sauce pan with simmering water and stir well until mixture is smooth.
5.Add 1/4 cup of sugar to this mixture and mix well for 2 minutes.Let cool
6.Whisk eggs and yolk together until combined.
7.Add remaining sugar and whisk until light and fluffy.
8.Mix chocolate sugar mixture in this and beat well until combined.Scrape down the sides in between.
9.Add softened butter a little at a time and mix in.
10.Mix in one third of flour mixture followed by half of buttermilk mixture and repeat with rest of flour mixture.
11.Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes.
12.Cool on a wire rack in the pan for 10 minutes and then take out from pan and cool on wire rack ,completely.

To make Chocolate Mousse filling:

1.Heat about 2 inch of water in a sauce pan. Set a heat proof bowl, with chopped chocolate on top of it. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it melt.
2.Remove from heat and stir until chocolate is smooth, with no lumps.
3.Place heavy cream and sugar in a well chilled mixing bowl. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form.
4.Using hands, whisk 1/4th of whipped cream in melted chocolate, until smooth.
5.Add this to whipped cream and fold in using a rubber spatula.

To make Ganache:

1.Place semisweet chocolate pieces in a steel bowl.
2.heat heavy cream and butter in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil.
3.pour this over chocolate pieces. Let stand for a few minutes and then mix well, until smooth.
4.Chill about one cup of ganache in the fridge, if you are planning to decorate with it.
5.Let resat of ganache come to room temperature, before frosting the cake.

To assemble the cake:

1.Spread mousse over top of brownie. Spread evenly using an offset spatula.
2.Press the cake over mousse,press down gently.
3.Chill this for an hour.
4.Remove springform ring and parchment collar.
5.Pour Ganache on top and spread evenly using a spatula,on top and sides of cake.
6.Decorate top and sides using chilled ganache or whatever your imagination takes you to.
7.Serve chilled
8.Cut the cake with a hot dry knife.The cake is really sticky.

Notes:

1.As the author says, you could bake both brownie and cake together. If you are not an experienced baker, I do not recommend this, since you will be making 2 different mixes simultaneously, both of which calls for melting chocolate.
2.I did bake both cake and brownie together and found that it took me almost 30 minutes to get it baked.
3.While cake is cooling down ,you could make mousse filling.
4.While assembled cake is chilling in the fridge you could make ganache.
5.I used chocolate chips to make a border and some sprinkles for the sides.