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In our home, cake means chocolate cake. When my family organises a celebration, the one cake we know that everyone will love is a chocolate one.
While you can never go wrong with a classic, here are some of the ways you can make chocolate cake a little bit more interesting.
Instant coffee
Adding a teaspoon of instant granulated coffee amplifies the chocolate of a cake as much as cocoa accentuates the flavour of a cup of coffee. The granules can be added to the batter along with the other dry ingredients, or mixed with hot water and added with other liquid ingredients, as in these .
Mini chocolate almond tortes Source: Mary's Kitchen Crush
Coffee and chocolate
Best ever brownies
Dulce de leche
You can get caramel in a can, but it's much more satisfying to make your own dulce de leche at home, and even better when you add it to chocolate cake.
Just take a can of condensed milk, remove the paper label, place it in a pot and submerge it in water. Put the pot on the boil for three hours and allow it to cool a bit before taking the can out. Voila! The once cream-coloured condensed milk has now turned a golden-brown colour.
Sandwich the dulce de leche in between layers of chocolate cake. Finish off the cake by icing it with chocolate ganache.
embrace the caramel
Chocolate fudge and salted caramel layer cake
Fruit purees
Fruit purees bring moisure and natural sweetness to cakes. Give it a try in , with chocolate buttercream (made with vegan butter), shared by Stephanie Stanhope on The Cook Up With Adam Liaw.
Vegan chocolate cake Source: Kitti Gould
Yes, tomatoes in chocolate cake is a tried-and-tested ingredient. Source: Supplied
The mild acidity of tomatoes works in chocolate cake much like apple cider vinegar does; it makes the dessert delicate and moist. Make sure to use tomatoes without the skin and seeds, though.
Yuzu
Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit that is much milder that lemon and has a more orange-lemony taste.
While orange and chocolate are pretty much the go-to combo when it comes to citrus and cocoa, yuzu lends itself well with milk chocolate, or even better, with the white kind. Yuzu gives chocolate a well-rounded flavour, and its tartness and acidity are much less confronting than the usual lemon.
Yuzu gives chocolate a well-rounded flavour, and its tartness and acidity are much less confronting than the usual lemon.
Like other acids, a dash of yuzu activates the baking soda or baking powder in a chocolate cake.
Chillies
It's no surprise that chillies and chocolate go well together – take, for example, the classic Mexican mole (sauce).
But when it comes to chocolate cake and chilli, it's about considering the flavours you want to achieve and choosing the right chilli variety.
Use an ancho chilli powder if you don't want the heat to be too intense. Use a chipotle chilli powder for a sweeter and smokier flavour. Either powder complements the taste of chocolate and gives the cake a more complex flavour.
Beer
Here's an excuse to grab a bottle of brew in the middle of the day – to make chocolate cake!
Beer is a great addition to chocolate cake because its leavening capabilities help to make cakes more moist and fluffier.
If you're going to use beer in cake, make sure to use stout beer. What's great about this dark variety is its complex flavour profile. Stout beer gives a richness to chocolate cake and has notes of coffee, chocolate and caramel. Try it in these .
Yes, we have a recipe for candied bacon brownies. Source: Smith Street Books
The versatility of an avocado makes it a wonderful addition to both sweet and savoury dishes.
YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST
Four next-level sweets made with avocado
Avocados can substitute butter and sometimes even eggs in chocolate cake, without compromising quality. This replacement makes the cake more vegan-friendly.
Instead of being overpowering, avocado complements the taste of chocolate, making the cake even richer and fudgy. And don't limit your avo-adventure to the cake: it can also be used to add richness to icings and frostings, such as the dark chocolate mousse layers of this .
Dark chocolate espresso mud cake Source: Melissa Darr
