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Tips from the Professionals - How to Bake the Perfect Chocolate Cake
There are good chocolate cakes, and then there are great chocolate cakes. But how do the pros get it right - every time? Here's how...
"Bloom the cocoa powder with boiling water or hot milk"
Adding boiling water or hot milk to cocoa powder before incorporating it into the batter "blooms" the cocoa—unlocking deeper chocolate flavours and improving the cake’s overall texture and consistency. Remember to make sure you allow the liquid to cool before adding to your cake batter.
Paul A Young, master chocolatier
"Baking the perfect chocolate cake relies on a few key tips to achieve the balance of rich chocolate flavour, a moist crumb and the perfect ratio of icing and filling".
My three top tips are
1. Add half a teaspoon of sea salt to your cake mix before baking to balance sweetness and to intensify the chocolate taste.
2. If using a recipe with cocoa powder it can be quite drying so I mix the cocoa powder into a paste with a small amount of water and allow to sit for 5 minutes, then mix this into your butter and sugar if a creamed method or mix into your wet ingredients if it's a loose batter mix.
3. Filling and frosting - It's chocolate buttercream for me, so I use 72% Coucher Du Soleil, melted and cooled but still liquid and beat this into your butter cream for a stable and super chocolatey frosting.
When it comes to baking a chocolate cake, I have a go to high ratio cake with butter but I often add about 5% added oil to the recipe to get a moister cake that will last multiple days without drying out. I also like to use organic sugar. I do this because it has some molasses remaining in the sugar crystals and helps create a deeper chocolate flavour. Lastly, I like to bake at a slightly lower temperature, 325F/165C, to get the minimal amount of dome on the baked cake.
