chocolate sponge

Festive Christmas Yule Log

Equipment needed

Stand mixer

Pastry brush

half-sheet pan (18 by 13 inches)

Parchment paper

tea-towel (slightly bigger than the pan)

Spatula, offset spatula

fine-mesh sieve

Fork/tooth pick

For the sponge

eggs

sugar

g cocoa powder

g all purpose flour

salt

vanilla

coffee /1 tsp expresso powder

butter

For the ganache

semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped

whipping cream

sea salt

For the filling

g Cream cheese

Sugar syrup

water

liquor

To decorate

cranberries

cocoa powder

fresh rosemary/pine/holly leaves

orange

chocolate shards

Impress your guests with this chocolate cherry layered cream cake - a revamped version of a retro classic.

Black Forest gateau

salted butter,

bar dark chocolate

plain flour

golden caster sugar

cocoa

tsp bicarbonate of soda

buttermilk or natural yoghurt

morello cherry jam

tbsp kirsch (or more juice from a can if you want it to be non-alcoholic)

500 milliliters tub double cream

tbsp icing sugar

cherries

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base of 3 x 20cm cake tins. Boil the kettle. Put the butter and 75g chocolate broken into chunks in a small pan and gently heat, stirring, until completely melted.

Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda with a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk or yogurt together. Scrape the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the dry ingredients, add 100ml boiling water and whizz briefly with an electric whisk until the cake batter is lump free.

Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 25 mins, swapping the tins round after 20 mins if they’re on different shelves. To test they're done, push in a skewer and check that it comes out clean.

Prick the cakes a few times with a skewer. Mix together the 2 tbsp reserved cherry juice and the kirsch (or more juice) and drizzle over the cakes. Cool the cakes.

Mix together the remaining drained cherries and jam. Tip 200ml of the cream into a small pan and heat until just below simmering point. Chop the remaining chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl, pour over the hot cream and stir until melted. Set aside until spreadable.

When the cakes are cool whisk the remaining cream and the icing sugar together until softly whipped. Spread over two of the cakes, then spoon over the jammy cherries. Stack the cakes together. Spread the chocolate cream over the third cake and sit on top of the other cakes. Pile the fresh cherries in and around the cake and serve

My go-to chocolate sponge cake that tastes even better on day two and three.

Moist Chocolate Cake

315 grams (2 and 1/4 cups) plain flour

80 grams (1 cup) cocoa powder, sifted

baking powder

baking soda

(1 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar

brown sugar

180 ml (3/4 cup) grapeseed oil or vegetable oil

teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs, room temperature

240 ml (1 cup) buttermilk

60 ml (1/4 cup full fat sour cream

240 ml (1 cup) hot water

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Grease and line two 8-inch round cake pans with baking or parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, sugars and salt. Briefly whisk or stir using a spatula.

In a separate mixing bowl, add oil, vanilla, eggs, buttermilk and sour cream. Whisk with a fork just to break up the egg yolks. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Start stirring, while slowly adding in the hot water or hot coffee (see notes). Continue to mix until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Divide the mixture evenly into prepared cake pans and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.

Leave for 10 minutes before gently removing the cakes, and placing them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Made this cake for my son’s birthday and it’s just so moist and so good! I have a tendency of messing up and cakes being dry but this was so easy to make and just so yum. Not dry, not rich, just perfect for a chocolate cake.

The best scratch chocolate cake I have ever made.  So moist and delicious.  I also made your white chocolate buttercream.  Which is amazing too. Creamy and so delicious.  My husband agree with me. Best ever and I’ve been baking for 50 some years.  Thank you for sharing.

Top 3 chocolate sponge recipes from across the web

The most viewed chocolate sponge recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Festive Christmas Yule Log

Black Forest gateau

Moist Chocolate Cake

Top 3 chocolate sponge recipes from across the web

The most viewed chocolate sponge recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Festive Christmas Yule Log

Black Forest gateau

Moist Chocolate Cake

The most viewed chocolate sponge recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine