Banana Turmeric Chocolate Cake

By Zerrin, giverecipe.com

Strawberry Chocolate Cake is the easiest layered chocolate cake I’ve ever made. A very simple chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries are used for the mid layer and the topping. The best combination of chocolate and strawberries ever!

 [next]

I used my ultimate chocolate cake recipe here which is really simple. What I love about that recipe is everything is in one bowl. It’s always great to have less mess in the kitchen when baking something, isn’t it? The cake is perfectly fluffy and chocolate ganache adds a wonderful richness to the cake. Not to mention the beauty and refreshment added by fresh strawberries.

 [next]

I used two 6-inch round cake pans for this  fresh strawberry chocolate cake to make things easier for me. I feel really hopeless at cutting a large cake into equal halves, so I mostly prefer making two cakes and then combining them to make a two-layered cake just as I did in Banana Turmeric Chocolate Cake. You can definitely choose a larger cake pan if you are good at halving the cake step.

 [next]

You need to wait until the cakes completely cool down before combining and layering them. This cake has the easiest strawberry cake filling as the only thing you need to do is slicing the strawberries lengthwise and placing them on top of the first cake after spreading the ganache. I recommend you to wait for 5-10 minutes before placing the strawberries so that you give the ganache some time to set a bit.

Put the second cake right on the strawberry slices and then pour over the rest of the ganache. Again wait for about 10 minutes or more and top your cake with whole strawberries. I’m sure some pretty chocolate curls on this wonderful looking cake would make it look even more impressive, but first I need to learn how to make them and practice a bit.

 [next]

Ingredients

Cake:
 
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 and ½ cup plain yogurt
• 2 and ¼ cups all purpose flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract

Chocolate Ganache:
 
• 160ml heavy cream
• 160g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Filling and topping
• 1 and ½ cups fresh strawberries
• Fresh mint leaves

 

Instructions

1. Lightly oil two 6'' round spring form cake pans, line their bottoms with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
3. Beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.
4. Add in oil and yogurt. Mix well.
5. Gradually sift the flour directly into the mixing bowl and mix just until combined.
6. Add in cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla powder. Stir well. Don’t overmix the batter, just until everything combines.
7. Share the batter into two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Remove them from oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then remove them from pans carefully. Allow them to cool completely on a cooling rack.
9. Meanwhile prepare the chocolate ganache.(See the video above).
10. Put chocolate chips in a bowl.
11. Heat the heavy cream just until it boils and pour it over the chocolate chips. Wait for 2 minutes and stir until smooth.
12. Let it reach to room temperature.
13. Spread ¼ of your chocolate ganache on the first cake. Wait for about 10 minutes so that the ganache sets a bit.
14. Slice ½ cup of strawberries lengthwise and place them on the chocolate ganache you spread on the first cake.
15. Carefully place the second cake on the strawberries, gently press on it just to help it set.
16. Pour the rest of the ganache over it. Wait about 10 minutes and then place the rest of the strawberries as they are on the top.
17. Place a sprig of fresh mint on the very top.