If you are looking for an indulging chocolate cake, look no further. The chocolate-walnut cake layers are covered with silky, rich chocolate filling and topped with dark chocolate glaze making this cake a perfect dessert for any occasion. 

In February, I turned 28, and chocolate cake could NOT miss out for this occasion. I am a chocolate person, and there are no fruit cakes at my celebration table. If I’m already eating a cake, it should be a good one and covered with chocolate! 🙂

Good old chocolate cake is always a perfect option when it comes to birthdays. Everyone just loves it. This chocolate layer cake combines soft choco-walnut biscuit with creamy chocolate filling. Covered in dark chocolate glaze, this cake is chocolate heaven! 

I  have tried so many chocolate cakes in my life, and I loved almost all of them. For this birthday, I wanted to make one of my mother’s recipes as it reminds me of home and all the birthday parties from my childhood. 

This recipe is one of those that you can not go wrong with. The biscuit of the cake is easy to make, sweet enough, and tender. The original recipe calls for walnuts in the biscuit mixture, but you can also use almonds or hazelnuts. I love that earthy nut tone in my cakes, and when graining them, I often leave some small chunks in between to get that extra crunch. If you don’t like small nut pieces in your cake, blend them until sandy and fine. If you don’t have any at your home or you are allergic, you can skip them and add extra flour instead. 

Mixing egg whites well is crucial for the fluffiness and consistency of this cake. When adding sugar, make sure to beat your eggs consistently, so they don’t get watery. The final result will be this fluffy, light in texture, cake mix. I like baking my layers separately, but you can also bake it all at once and cut it in two once cooled down. Also, make sure not to open your oven while it is baking as in that way you will prevent your cake from collapsing. 

Chocolate frosting in this cake is silky and chocolatey on point, easy to make, and to work with. Good quality chocolate is always the key when making chocolate frostings as a good percentage of cocoa will give your frosting that special kick and will go perfectly with the tenderness of your biscuit and walnuts. Also, it is essential to use good quality eggs as we use raw egg yolks for this recipe. We have our farm eggs which I always use in cases like these, but if you have to buy them go for BIO, OGM free eggs. Another tip is to use powdered sugar and not regular crystal sugar for the frosting as the crystal sugar will remain crunchy, and the result will not be as smooth and silky. 

When assembling the cake, make sure to leave some frosting to cover the outside of your cake too. It will give that extra smoothness, and no one will be expecting it under the creamy dark chocolate glaze. Before serving, leave the cake out of the fridge for 10 minutes as it will be more creamy and soft.

Double chocolate layer cake WITH silky chocolate frosting and dark chocolate glaze
Marija Gvozdenovic

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8
Prep. time: 50 minutes
Baking time: 20 minutes

For the cake 

6 eggs

120g sugar

50g shredded chocolate

150g walnuts, granulated

60g all-purpose flour

16g baking powder

FOR THE chocolate cream  

250g butter softened

200g powdered sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

100g dark chocolate, melted

FOR THE GLAZE

100g dark chocolate

4 tbsp milk

4 tsp sugar

A small piece of butter

METHOD

Prepare the sponge cake:

Preheat your oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour a round pan (Ø 20cm) or cover with baking paper. In a large bowl place egg whites and start mixing with a hand mixer on high speed. Add sugar one spoon at the time, continually mixing until sugar is melted and egg whites formed snow peeks. Reduce the speed and start adding egg yolks one at the time. Add chocolate, walnuts, flour and baking powder and mix gently with a wooden spoon or whisk. As I used a smaller baking pan, I divided my baking mixture into three layers. If you use a bigger pan, the batter would be enough for two layers. Bake each layer on 180 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes until golden or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Once all the layers are baked, leave them to cool down and prepare the chocolate filling. 

Prepare the chocolate cream:

Melt the chocolate for the filling and let it cool. Prepare the chocolate cream by placing softened butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Mix on medium-high speed until combined. Add egg yolks and melted the chocolate that you previously cooled down. Assemble your cake by covering every layer with chocolate cream. You should have enough cream to cover all layers and the outside of the cake.

Prepare the glaze:

Prepare the chocolate glaze by mixing all ingredients in a small pan. Place on a low heat and mix until chocolate and sugar are melted, and all parts are well combined. Wait for few minutes to cool down before covering the cake. 

You can store the cake for up to three days. Before serving, leave it out of the fridge for 10 minutes as in that way your chocolate filling will be more creamy. Enjoy!

Notes: If you use a bigger pan, the mixture will be enough for two layers. You can double the ingredients for having more layers of your cake.