Sinfully Triple-X

When was the last time I ate chocolate cake? I really cannot remember. Now suddenly, I want chocolate cake. Bah! I shouldn't have thought about it. 

I bought a carton of buttermilk. I don't know what it is about me and buttermilk. I see it, I want it. Maybe because I have come to associate buttermilk with fluffy muffins and chocolate cake. It is those that I really want.

Not wanting to waste the buttermilk (as I have done countless times), I searched for cake recipes using buttermilk. I found a few and this Tripe-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake was one of them.

It's triple chocolate because there is cocoa powder and chocolate chips in the cake and then the cake is drizzled with a chocolate glaze.

I could have done a better job with the ganache drizzle and it looked more like I plonked the ganache instead. But who cares, right?

The cake uses quite a bit of buttermilk - 1 3/4 cups and that made the batter rather runny. But it was a good thing because this cake is very moist and the texture is soft, unlike a typical pound cake that tends to be dense.

Demolished.

The chocolate is very intense, enhanced by two teaspoons of instant coffee. 

Well, I had almost forgotten the ecstasy inducing capability of an awesome chocolate cake. One slice of this cake and I felt like I could run a marathon hah...hah...

As usual, the sugar content has been significantly reduced and those of you with a preference for a sweeter cake need to adjust accordingly.

Triple-Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

Recipe source : Adapted from Southern Living

Ingredients :

- 250g self-raising flour

- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

- 250g butter

- 180g caster sugar

- 5 large eggs

- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk

- 2  teaspoons instant coffee powder

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 1 cup chocolate chips (toss with a tablespoon of flour)

Ganache :

- 200g bittersweet chocolate, broken into small pieces

- 200ml whipping cream

- 1 tbsp butter

Method :

1. Sift flour and cocoa powder together and whisk tp evenly combine. Set aside.

2. Dissolve the 2 teaspoons of instant coffee with some buttermilk and pour it into the rest of the buttermilk (this makes the coffee easier to dissolve into the buttermilk). Add vanilla extract, stir and set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth and creamy.

4. Add sugar and continue to beat until fluffy.

5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add flour/cocoa powder in three additions, alternating with buttermilk and fold until well combined (At this stage, I used a spatula to mix)

7. Pour batter into a bundt pan (grease and flour the pan beforehand) and bake at 160C for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted into the cake comes our clean.

8. Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack for about 30 minutes and remove from pan to cool completely.

9. To make the ganache, place chocolate and butter in a heatproof container. Then boil whipping cream and pour into the cholocate.

10. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and then stir until you get a thick shiny chocolate glaze.

11. Pour over the cake.