The only chocolate cake base you'll ever need...
Updated: Oct 30
... after I created and published my first ever Nutjob chocolate cake, I tried creating new, different chocolate sponges for my new collections but nothing was ever that good, they were all 'fine' but that wasn't good enough. No one wants a nice cake, we all want one hell of a good cake that's going to make you come back for more.
And so all my chocolate cake bases are coming from this recipe, there I said it. Because why the hell would I change something that's so damn good.
So here it is. Every home needs a hell of a chocolate cake. You should be able to make it in a blink of an eye, when you simply want it, on a rainy Saturday night or just before your period and eat it in one go... or just because someone is coming over and you need a killer dessert.
Your chocolate sponge will be as good as your ingredients are. This recipe is tested so many times by some of my favourite customers. I tested it on so many people to make sure the result is always the same and I was looking for a killer of a feedback. It had to be easy, quick, HEALTHY and if you weren't going back for more, it means it wasn't good enough. So make sure you invest in good ingredients, and not the cheapest coles ones.
Organic free range eggs will make a massive difference, because there's quite a few eggs in this cake. Make sure you use coconut sugar because it massively adds to the flavour of the cake. Second option is rapadura if you're not paleo. Raw sugar will produce mediocre flavour, so...
Celtic salt or Olson's sea salt have wonderful flavour. For the coconut yogurt, we prefer Coyo. Most other brands are too much loaded with starch and that impacts the texture and flavour of the sponge. If you can handle dairy, a good dairy yogurt will also work.
If you can, get insecticide free almond flour from Honest to Goodness...otherwise other sprayed almond flour brands will also work (if you don't mind).
I'm really particular when it comes to cacao powder because I have tried almost all organic cacao powder brands and lately noticed they are either not real cacao or something else has been added to it, because most brands produced a horrible consistency and questionable flavour. So I can only recommend these two brands that are actually amazing and you can rely on:
Honest to Goodness Cacao Powder
Bahen & Co Cacao Powder
I also love a natural bi carb soda straight from earth (and not a synthetic one) so I get it from
Nourish Me Organics here
Things that will mostly impact the quality of your cake are eggs, making sure you use dark rich in flavour sugar and a real cacao powder. Everything else is not that important.
This is what you'll need for a 12-15 slices single layer chocolate cake base:
Ingredients:
5 organic free range eggs
165-175g organic coconut sugar
1.5 teaspoon Celtic salt (or any good salt)
200g organic coconut yogurt (we use Coyo)
340g organic almond blanched flour
3-4 tbl organic cacao powder
1.5 teaspoon organic bi-carb soda
Tools:
Digital kitchen scale (don't use cups ffs)
Electric mixer
24cm cake pan
non bleached baking paper - to line the baking pan
Process:
MIX:
Eggs, sugar & salt with an electric mixer until thick and voluminous.
ADD:
Yogurt and gently mix in, then add all dry ingredients to the batter and mix in (gently) with spatula
until full incorporated (no lumps).
POUR:
Into 24cm lined and oiled cake pan.
BAKE:
170 C (fan forced) for 25-30 min.
Check your cake after 25min, making sure the center is baked properly. Cool the cake base at room temperature before frosting.
Versatility...
This chocolate cake sponge is so versatile, so you'll only ever need this one recipe.
In winter, we love it with melted good quality chocolate and drizzled with caramel, or with warming chai spices...and in summer we keep it lighter and love a good whipped coconut cream with organic berries....
You can bake this batter into two or three layers - for two layers use two 18 cm cake pans and for three use 16cm cake pans. Adjust the baking time to 20 min, and check the center of the cake.
Less is more.
Keep the cake and toppings simple, and instead invest in really good quality ingredients. It doesn't even have to be organic if this is not your thing, but pouring really good quality ingredients into a cake will result in a stunning texture and flavour.
You can always email me for any tips/questions marina@nutjobbakery.com.au
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