Chocolate Cake recipe not chocolaty enough - can I just increase the chocolate?!

Lindesay

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Hi All,

I'm new here and new to baking - I just baked for probably the first time since I was at school (I'm now 36!) I made a small portion of this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1337/seriously-rich-chocolate-cake as a tester in preparation for making it as a surprise birthday cake for my partner. I chose it because he likes chocolate cake and I don't eat wheat.

It went really well, good consistency, tastes nice, but I wouldn't say it was rich or very chocolaty. I looked at this recipe http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/flourlesschocolateca_93580 and the chocolate, butter and sugar are double or even more to the same number of eggs. (I didn't choose this one as I don't have a blender.) There are some other differences as well of course, like the second one doesn't include ground almonds.

I'm just wondering if I can increase the amount of chocolate, and possibly sugar & butter, in the first recipe without messing up the consistency and how it will cook? I'm not sure I'll be able to do another test either as it as hard enough doing this ond without him finding out!

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
 
I am not certain that it is the sugar or the egg that is the problem. Maybe a better approach is to leave the cake recipe as is and have a much more chocolatey frosting. I think there can be to much of a good thing, changing the sugar, butter and egg ratio will no doubt make the cake heavier, if you like the consistence of the cake go for a nice chocolate butter cream frosting with chocolate shavings. Just be sure to use a very rich chocolate for that.

If you just add more chocolate to the cake batter it will probably not cook the same, what you might be able to do is add a teaspoon of cocoa to the dry mixture, rule of thumb for every teaspoon cocoa one teaspoon sugar, so you could probably get away with adding just one or two without having to change any of the recipe.
 
I am not certain that it is the sugar or the egg that is the problem. Maybe a better approach is to leave the cake recipe as is and have a much more chocolatey frosting. I think there can be to much of a good thing, changing the sugar, butter and egg ratio will no doubt make the cake heavier, if you like the consistence of the cake go for a nice chocolate butter cream frosting with chocolate shavings. Just be sure to use a very rich chocolate for that.

If you just add more chocolate to the cake batter it will probably not cook the same, what you might be able to do is add a teaspoon of cocoa to the dry mixture, rule of thumb for every teaspoon cocoa one teaspoon sugar, so you could probably get away with adding just one or two without having to change any of the recipe.

I'm no expert, which is why I'm weighing in here. I'd be concerned about messing with the consistency, especially since it's for a special occasion, and you won't be able to try out the new mixture before the big day. I think @Mockingbird has a great suggestion. If it's a 2-layer cake, you could always add something special in the center, as well.
 
I did a chocolate cake some weeks back. It came straight from the net. I just Googled moist chocolate cake and I got quite a few options. Don't even talk about when I checked Pinterest. They were countless. Anyway, so that I don't break any forum rules I am going to suggest you check online and I am positive you will find something. I found one that called for coffee and I loved it.
Here is something I just found about making the cake moist.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/454684-how-do-i-make-a-cake-extra-moist/
 
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I wouldn't change the proportions of anything personally. The only way I have found of making a cake more chocolaty is to add more chocolate.
One of the things I used to do was to warm dark chocolate up, and add it directly to a standard Victoria Sponge cake mixture once everything was ready for it to be put into the tin. You need to act quickly, adding hot chocolate to a cold batter solidifies the chocolate quite quickly, so whisking quickly is needed, and then you just pour it into the tin and cook as normal.

I will say that the olive oil chocolate cake I posted here recently (over Christmas) is exceptionally moist and rich in flavour.
https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/chocolate-olive-oil-cake-wheat-free-dairy-free.3250/

Don't be put off with it being dairy free - and use the cheapest olive oil as possible, otherwise it tastes more of olive oil than chocolate.
 
Try adding a shot of expresso coffee or a few teaspoons of instant coffee to the mix. You won't taste the coffee, but the cake will taste more chocolatey.
 
Try adding a shot of expresso coffee or a few teaspoons of instant coffee to the mix. You won't taste the coffee, but the cake will taste more chocolatey.

I found that adding the coffee was a nice touch. I rather liked the one I made. I was a little worried about tasting the coffee so I made sure not to add too much. The particular recipe was very moist in and the dark look was just what I wanted. I realized that the original post also spoke to it being more chocolaty. Maybe Sat's suggestion will work for that aspect.
 
I would try the same amount of chocolate but use something like the Green & Blacks 85% cocoa solids chocolate. It's quite strong and gives a really intense flavour to your baking.
 
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