Chocolate and Raspberry Layer Cake

Last week I asked J what cake he would like to have. He said chocolate so I asked him to pair it with a fruit so I could enter it to the Love Cake challenge which has the theme of Feeling Fruity.  He chose cherries but I'd only recently made a chocolate and cherry black forest cake so he chose raspberries. I love the combination of chocolate and raspberries so I immediately did a google search for 'chocolate and raspberry cake'. On the image search, we both pointed to this cake and said wow. Mine does not look as good as the picture on the blog but it's close enough and more importantly it tasted really good. 

The cake turned out to be humongous. I knew it was a 3 layer cake but I didn't expect it to be this tall. There was a good height to each of the sponges and with the addition of the icing it made for a very impressive looking cake. The chocolate sponge was really moist and chocolatey and still tasted fresh a week after baking. Yes it took us more than a week to eat the cake despite giving away almost half the cake! The icing was our favourite. I've not made icing using jam before and I'll definitely be using this idea again. I was worried it was going to be too sweet but it wasn't and it gave such a lovely pink colour to the icing. No artificial colouring required. The best bit of course is the chocolate ganache dripping down the cake. I was also rather pleased at finding some super large raspberries to decorate the cake with. 

I'm sending this to a few blogging challenges...

AlphaBakes hosted by myself this month and co hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is L and this is definitely a Layer cake. I have to thank Kate from the Gluten Free Alchemist for the idea of a layer cake for L for Alphabakes as she submitted a very gorgeous Layered Dark & White Chocolate Raspberry Cake for the challenge. 

Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber Jabber Uk. As mentioned this was the original inspiration for the fruit element of the cake as the theme this month is Feeling Fruity. This cake has fresh raspberries on top and raspberry jam in the icing. 

Bake of the Week hosted by Casa Costello 

 Cook Blog Share hosted by Supergolden Bakes

 making the raspberry icing - I love the bright pink colour 

 slightly messy icing but look at the size of that cake! 

 I love how the ganache drips down the side 

 with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries on top 

 

 Look at the size of those raspberries! 

 A gigantic slice of cake 

Recipe adapted slightly from GrandBaby Cakes (which was adapted from Country Living) 

For the cake 

475g plain flour

160g cocoa powder

450g caster sugar

1.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

3 eggs

180mls vevgetable oil

300mls sour cream

250mls hot water

For the icing

450g butter

490g seedless raspberry jam

380g icing sugar, sifted

For the chocolate ganache

150g dark chocolate

150mls double cream

To decorate

Fresh raspberries

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Spray 3 x 18cm sandwich tins with non stick spray and line with greaseproof paper.
• Sift the flour and cocoa powder in to a large bowl.
• Add in the bicarbonate or soda, baking powder and sugar.
• Place these ingredients in your mixing bowl (if using an electric mixer; otherwise mix by hand)
• Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until you get a smooth batter.
• Divide the batter evenly between the 3 tins - I usually weigh mine so they are all the same size.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 - 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. 
• To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. Then add in the raspberry jam and continue beating until it's smooth.
• Spread the icing between each layer of cake and cover the cake on the top and sides with the icing.
• To make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.
• Remove from the heat and allow to stand for a few minutes. 
• Add in the chocolate and stir continuously until smooth. 
• Pour the chocolate ganache in the centre of the cake and allow it to drip over the sides. 
• Decorate with fresh raspberries.