| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 2 hr |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Inactive: | 1 hr |
| Cook: | 35 min |
| Yield: | approximately 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup superfine sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup best-quality cocoa
- 1 1/2 sticks soft unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- Special equipment: 2 (each 8-inch diameter) layer tins with removable bases, buttered
- 6 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
- 3/4 stick unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract
- Sugar flowers, to decorate, optional
Instructions
- Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.
- Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don’t worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.
- To make this icing, melt the chocolate and butter in a good-sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Go slowly either way: you don’t want any burning or seizing.
- While the chocolate and butter is cooling a little, sieve the confectioners’ sugar into another bowl. Or, easier still, put the icing sugar into the food processor and blitz to remove lumps.
- Add the corn syrup to the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved confectioners’ sugar. Or just pour this mixture down the funnel of the food processor onto the powdered sugar, with the motor running.
- You may need to add a little boiling water, say a teaspoon or so, or indeed some more confectioners’ sugar, depending on whether you need the frosting to be thiner or thicker. It should be liquid enough to coat easily, but thick enough not to drip off.
- Choose your cake stand or plate and cut 4 strips of baking parchment to form a square and sit 1 of the cakes, uppermost (i.e. slightly domed) side down.
- Spoon about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of the cake-half and spread with a knife or spatula until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, normal way up, pressing gently to sandwich the 2 together.
- Spoon another 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it in a swirly, textured way (though you can go for a smooth finish if you prefer, and have the patience). Spread the sides of the cake with icing and leave a few minutes until set, then carefully pull away the paper strips.
- I love to dot the top of this with sugar pansies, and you must admit, they do look enchanting, but there really is no need to make a shopping expedition out of it. Anything, or indeed nothing, will do.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 766 |
| Total Fat | 41 g |
| Saturated Fat | 25 g |
| Carbohydrates | 101 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 78 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 132 mg |
| Sodium | 167 mg |
Reviews
Recipe was easy to follow. But it lacked a rich chocolate flavor. Instead of frosting, it went really well with dark chocolate ganache.
Very nice. I made it in a bundt pan–faster and easier–and made chocolate ganache frosting. Next time, I’ll add a bit of salt to the batter.
the worst cake. I had to start over and make a different recipe for the birthday party. I literally gave this one to my dogs.
Ok,my fav cake.I love it. Usually make it in a pan de mie, a bread loaf pan. Today I had some fresh figs from my farmers market, let’s c how it turns out. I put a thick layer of butter on the bottom of the pan,sprinkled brown sugar, layered the figs,cut in half,drizzled some maple syrup, made the batter no cocoa,added 1/3 c AP instead.used Vanilla and 1 tsp of almond extract. I almost never have sour cream at home..but always have yogurt..so that’s what I used. The chic version comes out perfect..Now one more tip…I never use butter..whenever I do the cake comes out dry..one day I was out of butter..I used Walmart brand cardio smart butter spread..OMG…never used anything else after. This comes out moist and yum. Also FYI..I cream the spread and sugar first..then dump all other ingredients. Maybe I will glaze today’s fig cake with an orange glaze.
I would hazard a guess and say that the majority of people complaining that the cake was dry or too sweet and lacked flavor are not from the UK and probably American. Nigella is similar to many many other chefs in that she does not seem to take into consideration the differences in certain major ingredients in other countries where her cookbooks are being used. Chefs generally make no provision for the fact that UK unbleached flour does not work in the same way as American bleached flour which is softer and capable of holding a lot more moisture and sugar. American cake recipes will come out drier if your using UK flour or if the recipe calls for a lot of liquid our flour can’t take it properly and instead of being moist and velvety, is either also dry or has an odd under cooked appearance that tastes stodgy. Is it more apparent in some recipes and certain ones will still work very well regardless with/without minor adjustments, cakes seem to be the most problematic though.
I made this recipe despite the low reviews because Nigella’s recipes have always been good. This one was definitely a miss. It was on the dryer side and the flavor was just lacking. My kids enjoyed it but they will eat anything with sugar and chocolate in it.
I must first say that I used gluten free flour ( cup 4 cup brand, other than that I followed the recipe exactly. I was worried about the texture of the cake while I mixed it but was happy with the baked results. The icing was very yummy and decadent. Everyone at the party loved the cake. I would have liked a little more chocolate flavor in the cake though. Could be my cocoa powder though.
This is the worst cake I have ever made, and at my age I have made a few. The batter was very thick so decided to add a little milk to the mix… The cake was still very dry! and it did not rise very well at all. The taste was nothing out of the ordinary for a chocolate cake. Don’t do what I did and make it for special birthday cake as you will be let down.
this is an amazing cake, so, so good… just delicious and perfectly moist, we love it! I don’t know what everyone that is giving it a bad review is talking about, is almost like if they are talking about a totally different cake or something.
Ok, so after reading the reviews, here’s what I did! for moisture just add 2 tbs light olive oil, 1/2 cup milk, and a dash of coffee and it was GOOD, very moist and chocolately and I am very happy I read the reviews BEFORE finishing the cake because it was for my hubby’s birthday