Simple chocolate cake

For all who love chocolate, this quick and easy cake is a spot on dessert. You can make it in no time at all, and enjoy the decadent flavour of chocolate together with mascarpone cheese filling and cherry compote to break the sweetness. Do I need to convince you any longer??;)

Ingredients

for 4 cakes

4 eggs

10g of cacao powder

40g of flour

30g of buttermilk or yogurt

50g of sugar

1tsp of vanilla extract

For the filling:

300ml double cream

25g icing sugar (or caster)

1/2tsp of vanilla extract

30g mascarpone cheese

15g of buttermilk or yogurt (optional)

Chocolate top:

30g of dark chocolate

30g of milk

Methode

1. Heat up the oven to 160°C top and bottom.

2. Combine the flour with cocoa. Add yogurt or buttermilk to yolks (sponge cake is moist when using buttermilk or yogurt - it stays fresh longer) and vanilla - mix.

3. Add sugar to the whites, whip until a foam has a thick cream consistency. Add yolks and beat with a mixer at low speed only to incorporate. Add all the flour and mix at low speed quickly only to combine the ingredients.

4. Pour the batter into the form approximately 22cm: 16cm lined with baking paper. Bake 16-20 minutes - check with a stick whether it is baked. Be careful not to over-bake as it dries out quickly.

5. After removing from the oven, allow to cool. Remove from the form and peel off the paper. Add powdered sugar and vanilla to the cream, beat lightly. Add buttermilk or yogurt (makes the cream not so sweet), and mascarpone cheese. Whip until stiff.

6. Place the sponge on the plate, bottom side up. Prick the sponge with a fork to create channels for the soaking liquid to penetrate the whole thickness of the sponge.

7. Soak (I use water with 2 tablespoons of cherry compote juice, 1 tablespoon sugar and rum flavour).

8. I cut the sponge in half. Spread a layer of cherry on one part of the sponge. Cover with cream (I use a piping bag for this, because it is difficult to spread cream on cherry). Cover with a second layer of sponge, press lightly. Melt chocolate with milk. Spread a thin layer on top of the top layer. Wait for it to set. If there are any uneven marks on the chocolate, when it sets you can use a hot knife to even them out.

9. Cut the cake into 4 pieces, squeeze 1 cream rosette on each and it's ready.

Enjoy!!