It’s Chocolate Cake Day – The Perfect Excuse To Indulge!

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Did you know that today is Chocolate Cake Day? I had no idea this celebration existed, until a few days ago when I read it somewhere and thought to myself: what a great excuse to eat a big piece of chocolate cake!

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I don’t think this recipe for a rich, fudgy and syrup-drenched cake is originally from Peru, but it’s hugely popular in Lima, and I doubt there is anyone who hasn’t eaten this addictive cake at a birthday party celebration once or many times. Street vendors, restaurants, cafes, corner stores…they all sell this decadent homemade confection, too tempting for anyone to resist it.

My mom learned how to bake it many years ago, when my children were born. She used to go to cooking classes when she visited us in Lima, and she soon became an expert in Peruvian cuisine. She then taught me the recipe, which I then passed to Amelia (our cook), and everybody at home was happy having this delightful cake very often.

Chocolate-cake-R6-1024x768The preparation is simple, and you don´t even need a mixer to make it. What is somewhat time consuming is the fudge, which has you slaving away over the stove, stirring the milks with the cocoa until the mixture thickens and you can see the bottom of the pan. Then you have to wait until it´s cool enough to handle, but don’t worry about wasting your time because the result is spectacular.

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For me, every moment is a good moment to have a big chunk of chocolate cake, besides birthdays and other celebrations. I love to have it with a big glass of cold milk, or a cup of coffee, and some of my favorite moments to indulge are:

1.            When I´m happy

2.            When I´m sad

3.            When I´m angry

4.            When something wonderful happens to me

5.            When I´ve had a bad day

6.            When I´m hungry

7.            When I´m not hungry but I´m craving something sweet

8.            When I can´t sleep

9.            When I have to work and I´m procrastinating (mainly thinking about chocolate cake!)

10.          When I’m watching a movie

Well… as you can see, I have endless excuses!  What excuses do you have?

Chocolate Cake
Author: 
Recipe type: Cake
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 10-12
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cups cake flour
  • 8 tablespoons cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 3 eggs
  • **Syrup:
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • **Fudge:
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • 3 tablespoons hot water
  • 1 can unsweetened evaporated milk
  • 1 can condensed milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
  1. Grease a ring baking pan and cover the bottom with parchment paper.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  3. In a big bowl sift flour, cocoa, coffee, salt, baking soda.
  4. Make a well in the center and add oil, milk, vinegar, vanilla, eggs, and sugar. Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon.
  5. Pour in the prepared baking pan and bake for 1 hour. Let cool.
  6. **Syrup:
  7. Put water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil until sugar dissolves and cook for 5 minutes.
  8. Turn off the heat, add vanilla essence and cool.
  9. **Fudge:
  10. Stir cocoa in hot water until dissolved. In a saucepan put evaporated milk, condensed milk and cocoa, cook over medium-low heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens and you can see the bottom of the pan.
  11. Turn off the heat and add butter. If it´s too thick, add a little milk to it.
  12. **Assemble:
  13. Slice the cake in three layers.
  14. Pour some syrup on every layer.
  15. Spread fudge on the first layer, cover with another cake layer. Repeat.
  16. Frost the cake with fudge and sprinkle with toasted nuts or almonds.


Comments

  1. OMG I love chocolate! Too bad I made a lifestyle change which means I cannot eat sweets until I reach my weight loss goal. I will make this for the hubby though…

  2. OMG the fudge look amazing!! yum! love this chocolate cake!

  3. I just love how you’re introducing us to all this wonderful peruvian food! Who knew this cake was part of your repertoire! Con strawberries at the bottom! Yes! Oh wait, and with café!!!

  4. Love chocolate cake! Se ve rico!!!

  5. Lo hice anoche. No solo sabe exactamente igual al que comia de chica, si no que todos en mi casa lo amaron. Ahora, por favor, alguien llévese la torta que si no, me la como toda yo sola.

  6. Do you wait until the cake layers absorb the syrup before adding fudge?

  7. Hey

    is it possible to have this in french please , i can’t translate it

    pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssse
    miammm

  8. Esta torta de chocolate esta deliciosa. La hice con el molde con el hueco en el centro. Quisiera saber si se puede cocinar en un molde circular sin el hueco. Quiero hacer una torta en forma de bigote utilizando esta receta.

    • Hola Claudia. No te recomiendo hacerla en un solo molde porque la torta puede quedar medio cruda en el centro, pero puedes usar dos o tres moldes redondos, sin hueco, y reducir el tiempo de horneado en unos 15 minutos. Todo el procedimiento sigue siendo el mismo. Nos cuentas cómo te sale ese bigote!

  9. Thank you for this recipe. I tasted this cake in Lima years ago and have not been able to find the recipe despite having in-laws from Peru. Thank you Thank you!

  10. what is the can sizes for the sweetened evaporated milk and the condensed milk?

  11. Lovely, irristable chocolate cake! Dumb Q, is the squiggle chocolate garnish a different frosting? Looks like it is?? Tx

  12. OMG…….soooo easy to make it and absolutely delicious, me hizo volver a mi infancia, we all love it 🙂

  13. Hi, thank you so much for posting this I can’t wait to try it! I’m actually going to make it for Thanksgiving rather than my traditional sweet potato pie. I remember having it with manjar blanco last time I visited and it was amazing. How can I incoporate the manjar blanco in this cake?

  14. No baking powder?

  15. I made this cake for my stepdaughter’s birthday and it was a total success. I use a rectangular pan because I was not sure of the size for the ring pan. What size ring pan should I use? Sorry if this is a silly question

  16. For some reason my fudge sauce won’t thicken. I followed the directions exactly an I don’t know what went wrong. Thoughts?

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