Chocolate Overdose Cake

I'm so happy I finally get to share this gorgeous, sinful, wonderful cake with you. The internet had conked off for the past week or so, and I kep waiting for it to return so I could post this cake. Because guys, this cake is GOOD! Like really, mind-blowingly, changing you forever good. And how could it not be, considering it has almost 2 lbs of chocolate in it?


The cake has a fudgy brownie base, a light layer of mousse, then a layer of cake on top, all drowned in an incredible ganache. The cake was actually so good, I'm considering making it my go-to chocolate cake. It was soft, moist and yet sturdy enough to carry. Plus, it was the first thing the newest addition to my kitchen [I will tell you about this in my next post] ever made. So it'll always be special to me. This entire cake does take a little preparation and time, but if you plan it well it should finish off very soon. You can bake the brownie and cake layer at the same time, so that they cool together too, and your time is greatly reduced. The mousse and ganache barely take 10 minutes in total. And then you can gorge on the gloriousness of the cake. Ok, now I'll shut up and give you the recipe.






Chocolate Overdose Cake
Adapted from The Foodie Bride


Brownie base
5/8 cup [1/2 cup + 2Tbsp] cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into six pieces
1 1/8 cups [1 cup + 2 tbsp] sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract


Chocolate cake
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft
7/8 cups [3/4 cup + 2 tbsp] all-purpose flour
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/8 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1/4 cup hot water
7/8 cups [3/4 cup + 2 tbsp] sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk


Chocolate mousse filling
6 oz semisweet chocolate, broken into 1/2-ounce pieces
1 7/8 cups [3/4 cup + 2 tbsp] heavy cream
1 Tbsp granulated sugar


Ganache
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
18 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-ounce pieces

 Equipment -
A 9 Inch Springform Pan
A 9 inch cake pan / another springform pan.


Instructions -


For the brownie base -

1. Grease and line the springform along the bottom as well as the sides, letting the sides go slightly higher than the pan.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
3. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl [like glass] set over a saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. (Alternatively, in microwave, heat butter and chocolate in large microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and, if necessary, repeat in 15-second increments; be careful not to let the chocolate burn.) 
4. Once the chocolate mixture is completely smooth, take it off the heat and whisk in the sugar. Now, add eggs one at a time, whisking between each addition till combined well. Whisk in vanilla. 
5. Fold in the flour using a spatula, until batter is homogenous. Pour into the prepared pan, smooth over the surface using an offset spatula, and set aside till the cake batter is ready too. Then bake along with the cake layer, until a skewer inserted only has a few moist crumbs attached, about 25-30 minutes. Cool about 1 hour, do not take it out of the pan.

To make the cake:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and line a 9 inch round pan.In a medium heatproof bowl, combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water[I used room temp]; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 inch of simmering water and stir with rubber spatula until chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes.
2. Add 1/4 cup sugar to chocolate mixture and stir until thick and glossy, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool. 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl combine buttermilk and vanilla; set aside.
4. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining sugar, increase speed to high, and whisk until fluffy and lightened in color, 2 to 3 minutes. Replace whisk with paddle attachment.
5. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30 to 45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed.
6. Add softened butter one tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition.Alternate between adding the flour and buttermilk mixtures, in the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry pattern. Mix just to incorporate between each addition.
7. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Pour into prepared pan; smooth batter to edges of pan with an offset spatula 
8. Bake until a skewer inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, and the top just lightly springs back when touched, about 30 minutes. The cake will take slightly longer than the brownies, so make sure you keep an eye out. Cool cake in pan 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack and cool completely.

For the chocolate mousse filling:

1. In a heatproof bowl, melt the semi-sweet chocolate set over an inch of barely simmering water, until smooth and homogenous. Set aside. 
2. Using your whisk attachment, whisk the sugar and heavy cream on high until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. 
3. Mix in about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the melted chocolate until smooth. Now gently fold in the rest of the cream into the lightened mixture. 
4. Once the brownie and cake layers have cooled completely, spread the mousse onto the brownie, smoothen the top with an offset spatula, then lay on the cake on top, inverted so that it's bottom is on top. Refrigerate for about an hour, while you begin to make the ganache, so that they can both cool down at the same time.

For the Ganache:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the heavy cream and the butter over medium high heat until it boils. 
2. Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. If you want to use the ganache to make any piped decorations, chill about 1 cup of ganache for 1 hour in the refrigerator. The remaining ganache must be left outside to come down to room temperature, about 40 minutes. 
3. Spread the room temp ganache over the chilled cake using an offset spatulat until smooth and flat. I chose to only drizzle it over the sides, because I didn't feel like decorating it, and the sides look so pretty anyway. Fill the chilled cup of ganache into a piping bag fitted with whatever nozzle you prefer, and decorate away. 
4. Store the cake in the fridge. I like to warm for a little less than 10 seconds in the microwave before serving.