Black chocolate raspberry cake
A rich chocolate-upon-chocolate cake, with the richness cut through with a hit of raspberry.
Chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache, raspberry jam. Designed for Halloween with its visuals, but let’s be real - what kind of chocolate lover would turn this down any time of the year?
Jump to photography thought process
The decoration was inspired by kintsugi. Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese artform that involves repairing broken pottery with gold. So instead of making the repairs as seamless and undetectable as possible, the cracks in the pottery are emphasised by the gold.
It was also inspired by spiderwebs, so I wanted the ‘cracks’ to form a loosely web-like pattern.
I……. uh… went a bit overboard I think, resulting in a kind of tacky looking web. It was when I went a little thinner on the lines and a bit more rogue that it started to look better. You can see this on the back of the cake (see image below), of which there aren’t many photos of. I guess I thought I should just commit to the tacky gold spider web?
Well hey, it was designed to be spooky, so I suppose it was so tacky it was scary?
Ok, so obviously you don’t have to do the same design. The chocolate cake itself is amazing as is!
You don’t even have to do the black. If it were easier to procure black cocoa in Australia, I absolutely would have created the recipe using it. However since you can’t really get it in grocery stores or anything, I just went with regular cocoa. You could use Dutch processed cocoa, which has a darker colour than regular cocoa, though it’s still nowhere near as dark as black cocoa. To get the black colour I just used food colouring.
The jam however is non-negotiable.
(Joking, of course. Feel free to omit the jam if you don’t like jam, or replace it with your preferred jam)
I used a lot of black food colouring for this cake, so you probably think it would’ve (temporarily) stained our teeth black, but that didn’t seem to happen. Actually not sure why. I’m not complaining, but I’m also not guaranteeing the same if you decide to go all the way with black food colouring like I did.
I used an oil-based food colouring (Colour Mill, for anyone interested) since there is fat in all elements of the cake. The colour actually deepened as I let it sit (in the ganache, for example), so if you have time I’d recommend giving the colouring time to ‘develop’ before adding more.
Photography thought process
I knew I wanted this to be a spooooky shoot, but I wanted to avoid the more campy side of Halloween like fake bugs, skeletons, and the like (turns out my poorly painted on golden web was campy enough anyway, but that’s beside the point). So I went with a dark and moody look with natural elements in the wooden surface and leaves, plus the candles. So more of a gothic look, but not completely.
As such, I also edited the shots a little cooler and a little more desaturated.
I knew I wanted the jam to ooze a little out of the cake to give that ‘bloody’ look and provide some contrast to the rest of the cake. I was prepared to have to add a little more jam in the slice just for the photo, but the perfect ooze just happened naturally when I pierced it with a fork for another shot.
Smoke just seems to have this mysterious look to it, so I knew I had to get some smoke shots too. In the shot with the single slice (see below), I used the smoke to create atmosphere. The idea was something along the lines of a graveyard and the associated fog.
In the very first shot in this post, I decided to go with lots of blurred movement. I thought this kind of gave a kind of ghostly or spectral look. Plus, with the candles it was reminiscent of a seance or a summoning (not that I’ve conducted a seance before…).
Tips for making a black chocolate raspberry cake
If you have access to black cocoa, use it in the buttercream. I cannot recommend using it in the cake itself as I have not tested it. Black cocoa is drier than regular cocoa and so you may need to add more fat to the recipe. If you want to use it in the cake, do not substitute too much.
Usually, it’s easier to frost a cake when the buttercream is super soft and creamy. However, since we’re adding jam in the centre of each layer, it’s actually better if your buttercream is on the slightly firmer side when filling the layers (but still soft enough to spread, of course!). You can either pipe a border around the layer before adding the jam, or you can scoop out the centre. When doing the final coat, the buttercream is easier to work with when softer.
If you hate raspberry seeds, sieve it first! Just make sure you have the same quantity after sieving. Or, just use whatever jam you prefer.
Use an oil-based black food colouring if using colouring. You’ll be able to use less colouring than if you used a water or gel colouring.
When making the buttercream, if your butter is too solid, feel free to chop into smaller pieces and gently warm in the microwave before starting the process. This will give it time to cool back to room temperature if necessary OR just speed up the ‘warming to room temperature’ process.
Recipe
For the chocolate cake
Makes 2 20cm round cakes, to be sliced in half horizontally (4 layers)
INGREDIENTS:
1c hot water OR hot coffee (I used 2 1/2 tsp instant coffee in 1c hot water)
85g cocoa
125g dark chocolate, finely chopped
1c milk
Black oil-based food colouring (optional)
350g plain flour
1tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
2tsp baking powder
300g unsalted butter, room temperature
450g brown sugar
5 eggs
1tbsp vanilla extract
METHOD:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line 2 20cm cake pans.
2. Combine the hot coffee OR water, and cocoa. Whisk to combine. Add in the finely chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth and melted. Pour in the milk and add the food colouring to your desired shade (optional). Set aside to cool.
3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
4. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, ensuring they are fully incorporated between each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
5. Beat in 1/4 of the flour mixture, then 1/3 of the cocoa mixture. Repeat until all have been beaten in.
6. Evenly pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes then transfer to cooling racks to completely cool.
For the chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream
INGREDIENTS:
8 egg whites
450g castor sugar
700g unsalted butter, room temperature
400g dark chocolate, melted but cool
50g cocoa powder, mixed with just enough hot water to form a thick but pourable consistency, cooled (or to taste - I went a bit extra because I wanted it darker)
Black oil-based food colouring (optional)
METHOD:
1. Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large heatproof bowl and hand whisk to roughly combine. Place the bowl over a pot of boiling water or a double boiler, ensuring the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl.
2. Gently hand whisk the egg whites and sugar over the heat until it feels hot and no longer gritty or grainy when you rub it between your fingers OR until it reaches 72°C (to pasteurise the whites).
3. Remove from the heat and place the bowl back onto your stand mixer or onto your benchtop. Start beating on a low to medium-low speed with the whisk attachment or with your hand-mixer. When making meringue, the lower speed ensures the bubbles are smaller and more compact. Keep beating until you have reached soft peaks, then increase speed to medium to medium-high until stiff peaks form. This step may take a while. Feel free to give your mixer a rest from time to time.
4. Swap to the paddle attachment. With the mixer running on a medium-low speed, spoon in the butter, roughly a tablespoon at a time. Ensure the butter is fully combined before adding the next tablespoon. After adding all the butter, increase speed to medium-high or high and beat until it is thick and smooth. If it looks broken or loose, just keep beating it! It will come together eventually. It's like an emulsification. If it's still not coming together, place it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes then take it out and beat it again.
5. With the mixer running on a low speed, pour in the melted chocolate, then the cocoa mixture a little at a time until it suits your taste. Add in the food colouring if desired.
For the ganache
INGREDIENTS:
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped
100g cream
Black oil-based food colouring (optional)
METHOD:
1. Heat the cream in a pot until just starting to steam around the edges.
2. Place the chocolate into a bowl and pour the hot cream over the top. Wait a minute before gently whisking to melt and combine. Once smooth and silky, add in the food colouring and set aside to cool.
To assemble
INGREDIENTS:
1 batch chocolate cake
1 batch chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream
1 batch ganache
240g raspberry jam (if sieved to remove seeds, ensure weight is 240g after sieving)
Gold lustre dust mixed in a little alcohol to create a paint (optional) (I used Grand Marnier because that’s what I had, but feel free to use vodka or rum)
METHOD:
1. Level both chocolate cakes by cutting off any domes the cakes may have. Horizontally, slice each cake into half.
2. Place one layer of cake onto a cake board or serving dish.
3. Spread on roughly 3/4-1c of buttercream. Spoon out the middle to create a well (I wanted to leave a thin layer of buttercream at the bottom of the well, but if not that’s also fine) and add 1/4c of jam. Place another cake layer evenly on top.
4. Repeat step 3 two times.
5. Evenly coat the top and sides of the cake with a very thin layer of buttercream, then place in the fridge to chill for at least 20 minutes to firm up.
6. Remove the cake from the fridge and apply a final, thicker coat of buttercream. Return to the fridge to firm up again.
7. (Optional) Using a fine-tipped brush, use the gold lustre dust paint to paint on ‘cracks’. Return to the fridge again to allow the paint to dry if it hasn’t dried already and to chill before adding ganache.
8. If necessary, heat up the ganache until it is a cool temperature, but a pourable consistency. You can check this by spooning a little over a glass or cup and watching how it runs down.
9. Pour the ganache over the cake and use a spoon to gently nudge it to the edges and over the sides to create drips. Alternatively, you can spoon the ganache into a piping bag and pipe along the edges first to create the drips.
10. Pipe any extra buttercream onto the top of the cake to decorate.
That’s it!
Store in the fridge in an airtight container or cover fully with a cake cover/ cake dome. If not, the buttercream will dry out and crack. Now that would really be spooky!
