Paul Hollywood’s Chocolate Cake
Written By Natalie Hester
Adult Services Librarian
It’s been well-established that I enjoy baking. I’ve been making and indulging in the sweet treats for practically my whole life, but I wouldn’t call myself a true baker. I’m a huge fan of The Great British Bake Off, a British reality baking show in which “novice” bakers face off in a series of baking challenges. And let me tell you, they get extremely complex (like, I don’t know how to do most of that). Watching the show equally inspires and intimidates me, but mostly it’s just a really pleasant and entertaining time.
This month a friend of mine visited, and since I love to bake for the people in my life, I wanted to go all-out for my long-distance visitor. She expressed interest in a fruity chocolate cake, and I went on the hunt from there. I very quickly decided on Paul Hollywood’s famous Chocolate Cake from his cookbook Celebrate: Joyful Baking All Year Round, which I’ve seen in the show’s intro but never had an excuse to make.
Honestly, I wasn’t intimidated by this cake, but I knew it would be time-consuming. And that it was, so I’m glad I set aside a whole morning for it. The cake as he designed it consists of three layers of chocolate-raspberry cake with a chocolate icing in between and chocolate ganache to top it all off, with raspberries as decoration. Simple enough, taken one step at a time. Ready, set, bake!
Step 1: Cake
This came together much like most baked goods: the wet ingredients and dry are mixed separately, and then slowly combined. This cake has sour cream in it, and I am always a fan of sour cream in cakes. In this case, that sour cream definitely helped to keep the cake thick. I also used a sifter for multiple steps in this recipe (because Paul does tell you to, and you do what Paul recommends), and it really does help to keep the batter smooth. Like I said, it was very thick. So thick, in fact, that I worried I’d missed an ingredient or something. But no, I pushed on, folding in the frozen raspberries (I can’t help but think of the Schitt’s creek episode with the “fold in the cheese” situation – we miss you, Catherine O’Hara). I think it came out quite nice-looking! You may notice only two cake pans here, and I might say what an astute observation. You see, I only had two cake pans, and they were a little bigger than Paul called for, so I just went with two. A mistake? Maybe. Not what Paul intended? Yup.
Part 2: Icing
Ok, so here’s the thing (that’s not a good sign, is it?). I realized probably halfway through making this icing (maybe even earlier) that it was not going to look like the picture. That did not stop me, did it? I pushed on. Mine came out way thinner and lighter than the icing in the pictures looked, but it still tasted good, so I didn’t re-make it. Again, not a perfectionist. Paul would probably say, where’d the icing go? And I would just shrug and and agree it was definitely not a standout of the recipe for me.
Part 3: Ganache & Decorating
Chocolate ganache is probably my absolute favorite thing on a cake. Why would I not want an extra layer of chocolate on top? It’s so easy to whip together and very satisfying to pour on. I smoothed it a bit to get full coverage but wasn’t worried about a perfect surface. Once it had hardened a bit, I added my raspberries. I didn’t put as many on as ideal, because I just didn’t want to spend my weight in fresh fruit, but they are delicious and absolutely make the cake for me. Berries and chocolate is a stellar combination. And I’d say I did quite well with the decorating!
Overall, I am very pleased with my final product. The cake was much denser than I originally thought it would be, and that could be due to my two instead of three layers (thicker cake, longer cooking time, and all that cooking science I don’t actually know). Or maybe it was supposed to be exactly like this (I’ll have to pay more attention next time it’s a challenge on the show). Regardless, the flavors were really well-balanced. Most importantly, my friend very much enjoyed it and so did I. And it produced so much cake that even after pawning slices off on multiple friends and coworkers, I was eating cake nearly every day for a week (oh, the suffering). It was just too precious to waste! I’m not saying I’d get a Paul Hollywood handshake or anything, but he knows his stuff. I’m sure his other recipes are worth checking out as well.
Have you ever made a Bake Off recipe? Would you try this one? Any ideas for next time? Thanks for coming along on my kitchen journey yet again and pushing me to try new things! And September is library card sign-up month, so be sure to stop in or sign up for a library card online if you don’t already have one! You’ll find this and many more cookbooks on our shelves and online resources. Happy baking and see you next time!
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