Never Failing Chocolate Cake

This is a classic chocolate cake, featuring a moist, fudgy texture and a rich, dark chocolate ganache. The "Never Failing Chocolate Cake" recipe was given to me years ago by a family friend and was developed by her mother. It is incredibly delicious and has been a base for my brownie and Swiss roll recipes as well (coming soon!). This recipe is eggless and can also be made vegan!

Chocolate Cake Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups of flour

• 3/4 tsp of baking soda

• 1 pinch of salt

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1/2 cup neutral oil

• 1/2 cup yogurt*

• 3 tbsp Cocoa Powder

• 2 tbsp heavy cream*

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup coffee/warm water

Chocolate Ganache

• 8oz dark chocolate

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Steps:

Chocolate Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C

2. Combine the oil and sugar with a whisk until they have the texture of wet sand. Then add the milk, vanilla and yogurt. Beat the wet ingredients together until they are fully combined.

3. Combine the flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda in a separate bowl.

4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients in small parts. Be sure to fold them into the batter slowly with a spatula.

5. Once the wet and dry ingredients are fully combined, pour in the cup of coffee. Slowly stir the coffee into the batter until it is fully combined.

6. Pour the batter into a lined cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes*

7. Once the cake is ready, let it rest outside the oven for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the tin.

Chocolate ganache:

1. Place the chocolate in a glass bowl and melt it on a double boiler. Make sure to continuously stir the chocolate until it is fully melted to ensure that it melts evenly.

2. In the meantime, heat up some heavy cream either on the stove or in the microwave. We want this to be slightly warmed so that it doesn't freeze the chocolate.

3. When the chocolate is fully melted, add a few tablespoons of the heavy cream to the bowl. Mix the two until they are fully combined, then add the rest of the heavy cream to the bowl and continue mixing until the cream and chocolate are combined.

4. When the ganache is ready, you can either immediately spread it atop the cake or place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you have to use it.

Notes:

• In order to make sure that a cake comes out perfectly baked, do not wait until the toothpick comes out completely clean. You want the toothpick to have a few crumbs attached to it to ensure that the cake is moist and completely baked, but not dry.

• Ganache, when refrigerated, becomes a much thicker substance, which can be piped or used as filling for cakes. If you don't want this consistency, you can just heat the ganache until it's back to its liquid form.

• You can decorate the cake with anything, however, I strongly recommend fruits like strawberries or bananas.

• If you want to make an orange chocolate cake, combine the sugar with orange zest before you add it to the oil. Decorate with oranges and orange zest.