Vegan MoFo – A 40th birthday cake

I'm not sure why I volunteered to bake the cake when there was packing for travel to do but I did. I'm not sure why I decided to use a completely different recipe than I normally use, but I did. I picked this chocolate cake from Bittersweet because it called my name and tempted me with its towering height and lusciousness. It caused me untold (self induced) stress as, of course, I picked a recipe which involved cup measurements which make no sense to me. How do I measure margarine when it comes in a block?

It was one of those baking experiences where doubt and self-deprecation run amok. At every stage I convinced myself something awful had gone wrong…the ganache was never going to set…the cake wouldn't rise…it was going to taste awful.  Although once the cake was out the oven and the ganache had set and not curdled as I thought really I had to confess that it all turned out well.

 

 The cake layers were amazing even though they were cooked in tins of different depth. Super moist. I have a strange verging on madness theory that the really deep cake tin bakes the best cakes because it belonged to my mum, has been used many times before so therefore it knows what it's doing. Yeah just go with me on that one.

 

  

So the cake was amazing and stayed moist and fluffy for days.  The raspberries were to balance out the richness of the excessive amounts of chocolate contained in the ganache and their tartness made all the difference. Oh and don't be put off by the special ingredient as it really makes the difference. However, I would suggest telling people about it after they have eaten it as forks quivered at open mouths as I let slip what it was. It was tasted anyway because, well, it's cake and then It was devoured . I'm sure that the fact that a marathon had just been completed had absolutely nothing to do with it.

It's seriously a great cake and I'll be making variations of this cake from now on. The texture is just incredible and it doesn't make a cloyingly sweet cake. Sure, it's rich and decadent, but it doesn't have that tooth aching sweetness that some cakes have. If you wanted the sensation that a sugar bomb had exploded in your mouth and was then rushing through your veins then I suggest a traditional 'butter' icing.

(The ganache is supposed to be smooth but I used extra thick coconut milk as the base thinking it would make it extra creamy which it did but I hadn't thought through the whole it's solid in the tin so um maybe it will solidify again on chilling and after being so worried that it wouldn't set it became totally solid  and presented a whole morning of spreading problems)