Death by Chocolate Cake

This is one very rich and decadent cake. I made this cake as a dessert to accompany the yummy chicken roast dinner that Rob's mum cooked for us last night. When Rob saw a Death by Choc Cake on display at a cafe last Sunday after our lunch rendezvous at Siena's, he mentioned he was curious to try that type of cake out, so I told him I had a recipe for the cake, and hence the reason why it was chosen for dessert last night. I had a smaller cake tin than the one suggested in the recipe below, so I halved the ingredients. Besides, there were only four of us at dinner last night, so it made sense not to make too much. As a result, the cake wasn't thick enough to cut the cake in half to frost, so I used the frosting instead to cover the cake, as you can see in the photo I took. Rob, his mum and grandma all liked the cake. I could only handle a tiny sliver of it - it was much too rich for myself.

[Sigh, gone are the days when I could polish off a whole packet of timtams in one sitting - now I can only eat two or three biscuits before I start feeling sick. My healthy eating has turned my body against me! It's not just psychological either - I can no longer enjoy my parents' greasy dishes without my stomach suffering :(]

I followed the recipe as given on Cacaoweb:

Ingredients
8 oz (225 g) dark semisweet chocolate (40-50% cocoa)
2/3 cup (140 g) butter
1 cup (210 g) sugar
4 eggs
4 heaped tablespoons (1 dl) all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoon baking powder or 1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons sour cream
Ingredients for frosting
2/3 cup (1.6 dl) heavy cream or whipping cream
9 oz (260 g) semisweet chocolate (40-50% cocoa)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F (Gas mark 4 or 180 deg C).
2. Line a circular 10 inch (25 cm) cake tin (3 inches tall) with greaseproof or other non-stick paper and grease the tin. (Please note that the cake will rise to 3 inches and collapse somewhat when cooled. If your cake tin is less than 10 inches wide and 3 inches tall we recommend that you use two cake tins.)
3. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter over hot water.
4. Beat the eggs with sugar, mix with flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla extract.
5. Slowly fold in the melted butter and chocolate and the sour cream.
6. Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 50 minutes.
7. Cool the cake. Remove the crusted surface on the top of the cake, and cut in half, horizontally.

Frosting

1. Heat 2/3 cup (1.6 dl) of heavy cream or whipping cream in a sauce pan.
2. Remove from heat, add 9 oz (260 g) of finely chopped dark semisweet chocolate, stir until smooth, and let it cool until in thickens.
3. To test that it will thicken sufficiently, transfer a tbs of the frosting into a chilled cup and place in the fridge for 15 minutes. If it is too thin, add some more melted chocolate. It it is too thick, add a few tablespoons of cream, stir until smooth, and test it again.
4. This cake should have room temperature when served to have soft frosting.