It’s dark, dense, moist and loaded with intense chocolate flavor. It’s also really simple to make, doesn’t need a stand mixer to whip up this ultimate modest chocolate cake.
This is for those days when you need just plain cake – that tastes like chocolate! No frosting, no cream and no fancy ingredients.
This is an adapted version of a chocolate loaf recipe from Nigella Lawson’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess, which has become my new favorite book for desserts.
My family loves this cake. I have perfected the recipe over time. I have cut down sugar and I think you can reduce it even more but really depends on which sugar you use. I use raw granulated sugar from Costco.
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 4 oz or 1/4 cup dark chocolate (> 60% cocoa)
- 8 tbsp (60 ml) melted butter – 1 stick
- 1 cup and 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup + 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp (5 ml) baking soda
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp (1.25 ml) salt
- 1 cup hot instant coffee (1 cup boiling water + 2 tsp instant coffee powder)
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Method:
- Sift all dry ingredients together and keep them aside.
- In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until just combined. Room temperature butter gives the best results when making cakes.
- Add in two eggs and continue to whisk everything together until everything is well combined. Do not be tempted to beat too much air into the batter, as you want this cake to be dense, not light and fluffy.
- Slowly blend in dry ingredients and the coffee alternatively to this egg-sugar mixture until everything is well mixed.
- Finally, add melted chocolate and mix everything nicely.
- If you like, add chopped walnuts.
- Preheat the oven and prepare the pan – You can use a cake pan or a loaf pan. Grease it with butter and dust with 1 tbsp flour. Or you can line with parchment paper.
- Bake the cake for 45 minutes at 350 F. Do check with a fork to ensure it is done in the center.
- Let it cool completely before slicing.
- To store. You can store it in an air-tight container after letting it cool down completely. It stays good for a week, but I am sure it won’t last that long.
