Ingredients :
- 4 cups cake flour
- 1 & 1/3 cups cocoa powder
- 3 & 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 & 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1 & 1/2 cups hot coffee ( 1 & 1/2 cups hot water + 2 Tablespoons coffee powder)
- 5 eggs
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tsp vanilla essence
- * Eggs and buttermilk should be at room temperature. Not cold .
Chocolate ganache
- 1 cup heavy or whipping cream
- 5 cups finely chopped dark chocolate
*Add the 2 ingredients in a bowl then melt in a microwave or melt on the stove over simmering water .
Instructions :
1. In a large bowl add flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda , salt and cocoa powder. Whisk very well .
2. In another large bowl add oil and sugar and mix . Then add vanilla and mix in one egg at a time . Don’t add all the eggs all at once .
3. Pour in the buttermilk then mix . Take a sieve then sieve in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix just to combine the wet and dry ingredients together.
4. Add the hot coffee. Then mix well but don’t over mix.
5. Grease 2 baking tins (preferably 8inch )with oil or butter then line them with parchment paper .
6. Divide the batter (mixture) equally in those 2 baking tins .
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 170 Degrees Celsius for 60 minutes or until well baked .
*Baking time is longer because the batter(mixture) divided between the two tins is a lot .
Don’t open the oven while the cakes are not fully baked . Otherwise the cakes will collapse in the middle.
When the cakes have completely cooled off level them up by cutting off the top part . Then cut the cakes into halves,so that you end up with 4 cakes .
Layer the cakes and apply the chocolate ganache while it’s still warm .
Tips : Do not leave out the coffee , even if you don’t like it . The purpose of coffee is to intensify the chocolate flavour .
I used homemade buttermilk: 1 & 1/2 cups milk + 1 & 1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar. Let this mixture sit for 5 minutes before you use it.
Serve and enjoy!