The Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge

Last month Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella announced her Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge! I entered her Banana Bread Bake-off earlier this year (see my entry here), so I thought I'd better put an entry in for this one too. Plus it was a chocolate challenge - how could I resist?


Chocolate cake is not something I make often. I feel it is more of a dessert than a morning or afternoon tea snack, and with only the two of us, we would be eating chocolate cake for dessert for a week! I have chosen this recipe as my entry for multiple reasons:

1) It is one of the easiest cake recipes I know. There is no creaming of butter, and there is only 2 steps - firstly, whisking together all the ingredients except the chocolate chips and secondly, folding through the chocolate - too too easy!

2) It is not so fudgey that it must be eaten with a spoon - making it more of a traditional cake than a dessert

and

3) It tastes great! A chocolate cake, with the addition of shredded coconut and studded with dark chocolate chunks - what more could a girl want? (ok, maybe a glass of red wine on a Friday night!)

Chocolate Coconut Cake

250g butter, melted
3/4 cup good quality cocoa, sifted
1 1/3 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
100 - 150g dark chocolate (I like Lindt 70%), broken into chunks OR 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan forced). Grease and line a 24cm round cake tin with baking paper.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl (except chocolate chunks/chips) and whisk until smooth. Fold through the chocolate. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 50mins. Cool in tin for 1omins then turn onto a wire rack.

This cake tastes great both warm or cold and I think it is fantastic with double cream and mixed berries.