Chocolate sandwich cake

This recipe came about as I was thinking how I could make a classic Victoria sponge but dress it up differently enough so it felt like a new cake.  Making it into a chocolate cake was an obvious idea – most sponges will adapt to a chocolate sponge by replacing some of the flour with cocoa; as long as the flour and cocoa equal the original flour weight it should work.

The sponge manages to be rich and intensely flavoured whilst light in texture.  I opted for a three rather than four egg mix as the thick layer of ganache adds some height to the cake and I wanted a slice to fit on a plate!  I know the sensible option would’ve been to stick with a bigger sponge and just serve it on dinner plates but I had a rare moment of restraint and downsized my mix!

I love the classic method for making a Victoria sponge as it’s so simple: weigh the eggs in their shells and whatever they weigh is the amount for the other ingredients i.e. butter, sugar and flour (or flour + cocoa if making a chocolate sponge).  It guarantees a perfect sponge every time and is satisfyingly old fashioned.

The whipped cream is a lovely filling for the cake as it lightens what could otherwise be rather too much richness.  OK, you’ll know me well enough by now to understand that I don’t ever think anything can be too rich, but I’m trying to sound like a normal person and that’s the sort of thing I hear people say!

Ingredients

For the sponge:
3 eggs – weighed in their shells.  Mine were 218g therefore the remaining ingredients should all be 218g:
218g Unsalted butter
218g Caster sugar
180g Self raising flour – 180g +38g cocoa = 218g
38g Cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk

For the ganache filling:
90ml double cream
175g milk or dark chocolate, or a mix of both, chopped
25g unsalted butter

For filling:
150ml double cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line two 20cm round loose bottomed sandwich tins with baking paper.

Weigh the eggs in their shells and note the weight.  Mine weighed 218g.

Weigh out the butter so it equals the weight of the eggs and beat in a bowl.

Weigh out the same amount of sugar and add to the butter, beating until the mix is light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Fold in the flour and cocoa (which should, as a total, equal the egg weight).

Stir in enough milk to ensure the sponge batter is of dropping consistency.

Spoon into the prepared tins and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the sponges comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tins for about 20 minutes, then de-tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

You can make the cakes a day in advance and store in an airtight container overnight.

Now make the ganache: heat the cream until it is bubbling but not boiling.

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate.

Stir until you have a smooth melted chocolate, then stir in the butter.

Leave to cool and thicken – this may take a little while, so I put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

When it is thick enough to spread and hold its position, spread over the bottom layer of sponge cake.

Whip the cream until it holds in peaks and spread over the ganache.

Top with the other layer of sponge.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.