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‘Paul’s moist chocolate cake’ My feed back
Recently Paul posted his chocolate cake recipe for us all to try. Many members have had various difficulties baking it up. The most predominant ‘failing’ is that the cake sinks in the middle. We’ve all at some point answered with feed back and suggestions as to why this may be happening, sooo with great trepidation I baked ‘The Cake’ this morning. My cake was scaled down to 8″ square, using my hubby’s conversion chart, which is posted on the site under ‘ingrediants’ (spelled this way to find in search). I baked in a dark heavy duty tin, greased and floured fairly generously then lined with parchment paper, exactly as shown on the cake tutorial. I have a fan assisted oven which I set at 135c. Once the mixture was in the tin I reduced the heat to 130c and baked for a complete two hours. After an hour, through the oven glass door, I could see that the cake had risen but, had also become wrinkly, like elephant skin,towards the middle. I realised this was the prelude to the ‘sink’! However, I just continued baking for a further hour, then opened the oven part way to check the cake for doneness, which it was, thoroughly. The cake had sunk slightly, and formed a hard crust only around the outer rim which resembled ginger snap biscuits. After the cake had cooled completely I turned it out, to find a beautiful deep, moist cake with no hint of the dip present on the other side. This evening at 10.30 we cut the cake ‘proof of the pudding’ style and have enjoyed a very pleasant dessert. Prior to turning the cake out,and quite soon after removing it from the oven, I prematurely posted under ‘Paul’s chocolate cake, timing’ (in search), that I had doubts whether this cake would hold up to carving and stacking. Having cut, inspected for structure and sampled it, I can conclude that it definitely will to both.
I hope this feed back will help members who may want to attempt baking the cake again. Finally, Jayess has posted many times to try and solve the concundrum of ‘the chocolate cake sinking in the middle’. She has raised a salient point about the amount of sugar used in the recipe which may, or may not be a contributory factor to some of the problems experienced, although on tasting, sweetness is not excessive, and baking science is some thing I understand not! Happy baking folks x
I just wanted to say that I followed Paul’s instructions the the letter and my cakes came out perfectly with no sinking etc. Of course you have to remember when following any recip that no two ovens are the same. The family loved it and were happy I made a tester ahead of time and are looking forward to the actual cakes I have to decorate next week for our two family birthdays!
I think I may of had beginners luck, I’ve made loads of cakes but nothing like this one, and with a very bad oven which I am sure is around 30-40 degrees too hot (cant buy a oven thermometer) in a 10 inch square tin, I had bought from a cheap cheap shop (just doubled it up by putting another inside and then paper, I used a fan oven and put it down to 125. It came out very well though it sunk very little in the middle and also broke a little in the corner, but that was my fault as I didn’t do the baking paper properly.
Can I ask I need other flavors that gives this type of results has anybody tried, for example instead of chocolate could I use golden syrup and putting extra flour instead of coca powder.
Also could I flavor the choco with other tastes such as raspberry instead of coffee.
Also any ideas for kid friendly cakes as I sometimes choco is too much for them have a strawberry Jello cake but never comes up to this height, thank you guys just had my first commissioned cake very very nervous, as having to learn so many skills in a very short time but I am lucky the cake wave is just hitting here in Spain and the area I live in has nobody doing things that are different so hopefully can build it up.
Hi Twingo
Good to have your feed back! You can add what ever flavours you want to the cake and you can leave the coco powder out if you want but remember that the recipe will have changed. The only way to find out is to scale the recipe down and make small trial cakes. Experimenting is great if you want to give new flavours and find out whether the ingredients work together. If you use golden syrup you’d have to leave some of the sugar out and the texture would change. Paul’s ingredients is what gives the cake that texture and the great taste.
Hi I made the cake for the first time today and I hate to say it but it sunk in the middle. I used a Silverwood tin but it still sunk. This was a practice for a wedding cake I need to make in July and I am now really nervous of this recipe. Guess I will just need to keep working on it…..not going to do my diet any good.
Hi mtfhayes
Have a look at this most useful feed back http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/pauls-choco-cake. There is an option of this chocolate cake http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-make-chocolate-mud-cake. Hope your next try is more successful.
Hi, I’ve made this cake quite a few times now. The first few times the cake sunk quite a lot. On my last two bakes I used less sugar (100g less on the last) and it was perfect. I ended up baking it for 2hrs 40mins at 130 (fan) for a 10″ round – My customer said it was the best cake she had ever tasted 🙂
I had tried Paul’s recipe a couple of times and had the same problems as others with the sinking and crust. I found a Jane Hornby rich chocolate cake recipe which was very similar to Paul’s and decided to try it with reduced sugar (i.e. 600g instead of 750g) and it came out really well and was still sweet. I haven’t needed to make a chocolate one since, but when I do I will try Paul’s recipe again with less sugar and see how it goes as it really is the best tasting chocolate cake I’ve eaten, but it is expensive if it doesn’t work out. I also think oven temperature is crucial as I’ve found a slight reduction or increase does make a big difference to the final result. It is about knowing your oven and experimenting I’m afraid. Good luck everybody.
SuzyQ
Just hold your thumb over the bottle top and drizzle a little on each layer before filling. Bailey’s can also be used in the ganache itself as a flavouring.
My first bash at making this cake is in the oven as I type and is almost done, the whole house smells heavenly!
I had a quick look at the video and with Paul’s new book propped up on the table I followed the recipe and loved how quick and easy this cake is to throw together…………….lets hope the finished cake tastes as amazing as it smells 🙂
I baked Paul’s moist chocolate cake for the first time today and followed the instructions to the letter. However, upon turning the cake out it was very delicate and the mixture I had put in a square tin split down the middle when I took it out. I then went to level the top of my cake but felt the cake crumbling beneath me so stopped for fear of completely destroying it! I have managed to salvage it and start the ganache layer and I am hoping this will create a barrier of sorts. All the ingredients were well combined in accordance with the instructions so I am not really sure where I went wrong. The only thing I did was use an electric beater at the very end to combine the last few ingredients. One thing I did notice was that my mixture looked much thicker than when Paul poured his into the tins which did worry me. I also thought the ingredients were way too much for the two tins recommended. Are the current ingredient amounts listed on the tutorial correct? I am a keen baker so this isn’t the first time I have made a cake and I’ve never come across this problem before. Would anyone be able to advise me of what might have gone wrong? Or confirm it is a delicate cake?! There is absolutely nothing wrong with the taste- it’s probably the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had- just worried about the texture. Thanks!
Hi velinson
Using the electric mixer may have over aerated the mixture. Paul likes to mix by hand to make the resulting cake more dense. Like your mix, mine also looks thicker than Paul’s. I wouldn’t describe this as a delicate cake once baked, it’s strong enough for stacking but it is very moist and benefits from being completely cooled in the tin before turning out, sometimes it helps to place it in the fridge to firm up a little then freeze prior to carving. The ingredients list is correct as far as I can see, nothing has changed since Paul slightly revised it ages ago.
I posted about baking the cake in the post above yours velinson but I never came back to report on the result.
My small cake turned out perfect but like you my large cake broke in half………….
I put it down to the fact that I did not let it cool enough before I took it out of the tin, I baked it late in the evening and wanted to put it away before bed, I wrapped the broken cake and when I unwrapped it the next day it was in 4 quarters :o)
The small one was 100% perfect, I put it away for a few days and took it out when I had visitors…….they loved it so much I had to give them half to bring home with them.
My two main conclusions: I do think I probably should have baked the large cake longer than I did and I should certainly have left it to go stone cold before turning out.
I will be trying the recipe again to see if I can get a better result with the large cake 🙂
Fingers crossed I just baked a 6″ round and 9″ round for a wedding cake in a couple of weeks. I baked at 130 fan for 2hrs 7 minutes. The only adjustment was I reduced the sugar to 600g. I baked the small one on the lower shelf and large on the top.
I have just taken them out of the oven and they look fab. Not too much crust on top and about 3″ high.
I am now going to let them cool completely before removing from tin and then level the top and freeze for 2 weeks before taking out and filling ganaching and decorating.
Really really hope nothing happens now like sinking as they look fab.
A couple of silly questions that I’m not sure about.
1. When I have finished ganaching (after the pastry brush) do I let it go hard and then put fondant on and if yes does the fondant stick ok to dry ganache or should I wet it?
2. When making the truffles/cake pops do you freeze them before or after dipping them in chocolate?
Still got fingers crossed for the cakes x
Hi jb1958
Fingers crossed for you too, the cakes will shrink slightly on cooling so won’t be quite as tall that’s normal but they shouldn’t sink, at least I hope not! The only time I’ve had any chocolate cake sink after cooling is if it was under baked which I don’t think yours are. When I make cake pop truffles I freeze them before dipping because it helps to set the chocolate faster. Haven’t seen the tutorial yet so can’t comment on what Paul did. Good luck with the wedding. x
Update on above post.
Let the cakes cool completely and turned them out of the tin. Perfect so far so good. Got hubby to level them this morning for me (hes good at carving). He levelled by taken the crust off the top but this really was only a small amount so still got deepish cakes. The large cake is approx 2.5 inches and the small one 3 inches. The cakes are now frozen and ready to use in a couple of weeks.
The only problem is that I was going to keep the cutoffs and make some of the truffles but when I got home for lunch hubby and eaten half of the cutoffs! OK so I then went and demolished the other half for lunch. Although it was the crusty top it was so moist and so delicious Im not sure I will ever have any leftovers long enough to make the truffles/cake pops!! And this from someone whos not usually keen on chocolate cake.
Im still confused about ganaching the cake. After the final pastry brush with hot water do you then let it set hard before covering with sugarpaste? If yes does the sugarpaste stick ok to the hard chocolate or do you dampen it before covering?
