Chocolate cake with strawberry recipe

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A deliciously rich, fudgy chocolate cake that tastes as good as it looks. It's quite easy to make this perfect tea-time treat.

Serves8–10
SkillMedium
Preparation Time1 hours
Cooking Time50 mins
Total Time1 hours 50 mins
Nutrition Per PortionRDA
Calories673 Kcal34%
Fat38 g54%
Saturated Fat23 g115%

This chocolate and strawberry cake is gooey, fruity and gorgeously chocolatey.

Our chocolate and strawberry cake has a light and tasty cocoa sponge, topped and layered with a rich ganache glaze - and decorated with fresh strawberries and strawberry slices. You can whip this chocolate sponge cake up in 50 minutes. Just allow it time to cool before adding the icing. Savour every bite with a cuppa or serve as a dessert with an extra drizzle of cream.

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 4 level tbsp cocoa powder
  • 125g (4oz) unsalted butter, softened
  • 100g bar dark chocolate, melted
  • Few drops of vanilla extract
  • 350g (12oz) dark muscovado sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 300g (10oz) plain flour
  • ½ x 200ml carton crème fraîche

For the ganache topping and filling:

  • 300ml carton whipping cream
  • 200g bar dark chocolate
  • Few drops of vanilla extract
  • 250-350g (8-12oz) strawberries

You will also need:

  • 2 x 20cm (8in) round sandwich tins, buttered and base lined

WEIGHT CONVERTER

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Method

  1. Set the oven to 180°C or Gas Mark 4. Tip the cocoa powder into a bowl and pour over 175ml (6fl oz) boiling water and stir until smooth.
  2. Beat together the butter, melted chocolate and vanilla extract, and then beat in the sugar and the cocoa mixture. Whisk until it’s smooth, then add the eggs, one at a time, along with a spoonful of flour per egg. Beat in the crème fraîche and chocolate mixture and fold in the remaining flour. Divide the mixture between the prepared cake tins.
  3. Bake the cakes in the centre of the oven for 30-35 mins,until the cakes have risen and are just firm to the touch in the centre. Remove them from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for about 5 mins before turning them out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
  4. To make the ganache filling and topping: Bring the cream to the boil, then pour it over the broken-up chocolate and stir until the chocolate melts. Add the vanilla extract. Leave the mixture to cool and thicken to a spreading consistency, stirring it occasionally so that it cools evenly (this process can be speeded up by placing the bowl in a fridge when it’s cold enough).
  5. Slice some strawberries for the filling and halve some for the top.
  6. Spread half of the ganache over one of the cakes and arrange sliced strawberries on top. Place the other cake on top and then spread over the remaining ganache, allowing it to run slightly over the top edge of the cake. Decorate with the halved strawberries. To freeze: The undecorated cakes may be packed in freezer bags and frozen for up to 1 month. Allow them to defrost before filling and decorating.

Top tip for making this chocolate cake with strawberries

We’ve topped this treat with strawberries, but other berries could work equally as well.

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Jessica Dady
Food Editor

Jessica Dady is Food Editor at GoodtoKnow and has over 12 years of experience as a digital editor, specialising in all things food, recipes, and SEO. From the must-buy seasonal food hampers and advent calendars for Christmas to the family-friendly air fryers that’ll make dinner time a breeze, Jessica loves trying and testing various food products to find the best of the best for the busy parents among us. Over the years of working with GoodtoKnow, Jessica has had the privilege of working alongside Future’s Test Kitchen to create exclusive videos - as well as writing, testing, and shooting her own recipes. When she’s not embracing the great outdoors with her family at the weekends, Jessica enjoys baking up a storm in the kitchen with her favourite bakes being chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes, and a tray of gooey chocolate brownies