Extreme Chocolate Cake

This cake is moist, rich, tasty and all the more decadent as it looks. Loaded with rich nutella frosting and immersed in dark chocolate shards, makes this sinfully yummicious. A hint of coffee carries the taste to an extreme level. With every bite of it, you feel a chocolaty volcano erupting in your mouth.

To cut the sweetness, filling was made with cream cheese, and the butterscotch bites are to add a bit of crunch to the softness of the cake.

You can always play with the presentation part. Chocolate chips/sticks/wafers or the likes can be used for decoration. Recently, I visited a fancy bakery where my eyes caught on to a cake with chocolate shards on it. From then on, I just wanted to try it. Making Shards is such a simple task to instantly steal your loved one’s heart.

You just need to melt chocolate, spread it thinly on a parchment / butter paper, roll it into a tube, chill and unroll. Tadaa... You find beautiful chocolate shards unbelievably made by you!

Refer here for making chocolate shards.

It’s a double celebration for us. One is my darling hubby’s birthday and the other is my passion (blog) turning two. After blowing candles together, we cut this beauty, exchanged a bite of it and forgot everything else! I can say, this is my best cake.

So, chocoholics, this cake is definitely for u!

Ingredients

For Cake: (Adapted the recipe from here)
½ cup cocoa
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup boiling  water
½ cup + 1 tbsp butter
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ cup all purpose floor
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs

Nutella Chocolate Ganache:
½ cup fresh cream
¼ cup nutella
¼ cup chopped dark chocolate

Cream Cheese Filling:
½ cup cream cheese
1 tbsp chocolate ganache
1 tsp butter
1 ½ tbsp powdered sugar
¼ cup butterscotch chips

Coffee Syrup:
¼ cup water
1 ½ tsp sugar
½ tsp coffee

Chocolate Shards:
120 grams dark chocolate, chopped

Method
Chocolate Shards Making:

• Place the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over hot water and allow to melt, stirring often. Place a 16-inch-long parchment paper on your work surface. Pour the melted chocolate onto the paper and using a spatula, spread it in a thin and even layer, about 1/3 of an inch off each edge. Place a second sheet of same-sized parchment paper on top and gently press to release the air bubbles. Starting with one short end, roll the parchment paper tightly into an-inch-wide tube. Place it seam side down on a baking tray and chill in the refrigerator until set, for at least 2 hours.
• Have a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper ready and remove the tube from the refrigerator. Unroll the tube in one quick motion, which creates the chocolate shards. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper, and with the help of a large spatula go underneath the pieces, pick them up and transfer them to the lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until ready to use. You can make the chocolate shards 3 days in advance.

Cake Making:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Prepare an 8” mould with baking parchment and butter the sides. 
• Put the cocoa and brown sugar into a bowl, and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.
• Stir the flour, baking powder together in another bowl, and set aside for a moment.
• Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until pale and fluffy.
• Add vanilla essence in the butter mixture and mix well.
• Add 1 egg and half of the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Then add the second egg and add the rest of the dry ingredients and combine well.
• Finally pour in the cocoa mixture and fold everything together.
• Pour the batter in the mold and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Take the mould out and leave it on a wire rack for 5–10 minutes.
• Remove the parchment paper and leave it to cool completely.

Nutella Chocolate Ganache Making:

• Heat fresh cream just until it start to bubble.
• Add chopped chocolate, nutella and swirl the bowl and set it aside for 2-3 min.
• Now start whisking until all the chocolate is thoroughly incorporated and the mixture is smooth and then set aside.

Cream Cheese Filling:

• Whisk together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
• Now add sugar, ganache and whisk in thoroughly.
• Add butterscotch, mix well and set aside.

Coffee Syrup Making:

• For making the coffee syrup boil water, add sugar and boil for 2 minutes.
• Add coffee and mix well and set aside.

For assembling:

• Slice the cake into two discs.
• On the bottom slice, brush on the coffee syrup (half the quantity)
• Spread the cream cheese filling evenly on the cake slice.
• Place the other slice carefully on the first one.
• Brush with the remaining coffee syrup.
• Frost the top and sides of the cake with the chocolate ganache.
• Take the frozen chocolate shards out of the refrigerator and gently stick the shards to the ganache. Use long pieces for the sides and smaller pieces for the top.
• Place the cake in the refrigerator until the ganache is firmly set, for about an hour, then serve.