Never-Fail Chocolate Cake
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups flour
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, gently melted
- 1 None egg
- None None FOR THE GLAZE AND FILLING
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp apricot jam
- 1 tsp unflavored gelatin (optional)
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- Preheat the oven to 375u0b0F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Mix lemon juice and milk in a medium bowl; set aside for 10 mins to sour.
- Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt, making sure there are no lumps. Stir in brown sugar.
- Whisk melted butter, egg and 1/2 cup hot water into soured milk. Add to the dry ingredients and beat with electric mixer for 1 min. Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 1 hour, rotating pan after 30 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 mins. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Level top if necessary, then cut cake into 2 layers.
- For the glaze, place chocolate and 1 1/4 cups water in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat gently, stirring, until chocolate has dissolved. Add the granulated sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer, stirring often, for 10-12 mins, until thickened slightly (if you have a candy thermometer, the temperature should be 230u0b0F). Pour into a bowl and allow to cool for 30 mins, stirring occasionally.
- Spread the bottom half of the cake with jam. Sprinkle the gelatin (if using) into 1 tbsp hot water and stir with a fork until dissolved. Whip the cream until fairly stiff, then beat in the gelatin (the gelatin is optional, but helps ensure neat slices of cake as it firms the cream).
- Spread cream over the jam and add top cake layer. Spread top with cooled glaze, letting it run down the sides a little.
lemon juice, milk, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, egg, filling, semisweet chocolate, granulated sugar, apricot, unflavored gelatin, heavy cream
Taken from recipes-plus.com/api/v2.0/recipes/34609 (may not work)