Here at Van Mildert there's nothing we love more than a good chocolate cake and when you cross that with Raspberries - in our opinion the ultimate summertime fruit - you can only be on to a winner. So this weekend, we'll be getting busy in the kitchen making this fantastic chocolate raspberry cake and we thought we'd share the recipe so you can too.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 200g sugar
- 40g dark cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 140ml buttermilk
- 130ml strong coffee
- 75ml vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
Raspberry Curd:
- 250g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 4 egg yolks
- 90 g sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Vanilla Filling:
-150g mascarpone
- 100g heavy cream
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 4 egg whites
- 200g sugar
- 250g butter at room temperature
- 250g raspberries (fresh or frozen)
We begin with the making the cake. Preheat oven to 180C (350F) and prepare two 18cm round cake pans. In one mixing bowl, mix together the flour with cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix the eggs with sugar, buttermilk, oil and coffee. Then, add the contents of the two mixing bowls together and mix to create a batter which will be quite runny.
Divide this batter between your two cake pans (or bake one after another if you have only one pan) and bake for 30-35 minutes. The cake will be fully cooked when you can insert a toothpick into the cake and it comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and cool well (best overnight). Then cut each one into three layers (giving you six layers in total).
To make the raspberry curd, blend raspberries and press it through a sieve to remove the seeds. Add egg yolks and sugar and mix well before bringing to a boil on the hob. Once the mixture is boiling, add rosemary and cook for another minute. Once this is complete. remove from the hob and cover with cling film (it should touch the surface of the curd) and cool completely.
To prepare the vanilla filling beat the mascarpone with heavy cream and vanilla until smooth and fluffy.
To make a swiss meringue buttercream blend raspberries and press through a sieve to remove seeds. Whisk egg whites and sugar in a bowl over a hot water bath. When the sugar has melted and the mixture is suitably hot, remove the bowl from the heat and continue whipping until it turns white, fluffy and cool. Start very slowly adding butter but keep whisking and once you have added all of the butter you'll have smooth cream. Then add in raspberry puree and whisk until it is well combined.
Assembly:
Your cake should have the following structure - Cake layer, 1/3 raspberry curd, cake layer, 1/2 vanilla filling, cake layer, 1/3 raspberry curd, cake layer, 1/2 vanilla filling, cake layer, 1/3 raspberry curd, cake layer.
Once you have assembled your cake, chill it in a fridge for a couple of hours and then frost it generously with raspberry buttercream.
You can find this recipe and a whole load of other sumptuous delights at Modern Taste.