This cake is made with dark chocolate and strong coffee, it’s filled up with mascarpone cream and fresh strawberries. You could as well use another type of fruit but red fruits work best with this chocolate fest. For me the perfect combination for a joyful birthday party, and boy did we have fun making this!
For the cake:
360 gr plain flower
250 gr caster sugar
1 and 1/2 spoon of bicarbonate
1/2 ts salt
125 gr cacao powder
160 ml vegetable oil
360 ml heavy milk
3 large eggs
360 ml of fresh coffee
vanilla extract
For the ganache:
450 gr of dark chocolate
250 ml heavy cream
For the mascarpone filling:
250 gr of mascarpone
150 ml whipped cream
For the decoration:
250 gr of fresh strawberries
Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Prepare two baking pans of 23 diameter.
Mix the flower, sugar, bicarbonate, vanilla extract and cacao in a large bowl. Slowly add the eggs, milk and oil and mix again. Now add the coffee little by little. It will become very runny but don’t panic, that’s normal.
Divide the mixture over your two baking pans and bake for 30 min.
For the ganache: melt the chocolate and add the heavy cream. It will become a bit hard at first because of the cold cream but stir in well and it will get the wanted texture.
For the filling: whip the cream with some sugar (add the amount you like). slowly mix in the mascarpone cheese.
Putting this cake together is the hardest part. You need to let them cool down first otherwise you will get in trouble. When cooled you can cut both cakes in 2 parts. Now you have 4 layers to play with. I’ve buttered each layer with strawberry jam and added a big mascarpone layer with strawberries in the middle. To hold this cake together I’ve pored the ganache over it and smoothed the sides even. Cool immediately in the fridge.
