I used my old recipe for the cake and frosting. The Chocolate lace design, I owe to the lovely blog - Passionate about Baking. I find her Chocolate lace borders very pretty, mine let's just say are "artsy" aka ignoramus-piping.
Ingredients
For Chocolate Cake
* All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
* Corn Flour - 1/4 cup
* Baking Powder - 2 tsp
* Salt - 1/4 tsp
* Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
* Eggs - 7 nos
* Sugar - 1 + 1/2 cups
* Butter - 100 gms [approx 1/2 cup]
* Dark Chocolate squares - 80 gm
* Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp
For Cream Cheese Frosting
* Cream Cheese - 100 gm [At room temperature]
* Whipping Cream - 1 + 1/2 cups [cold]
* Sugar - 1/2 cup [Increase according to your interest]
* Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
For Cranberry Sauce
* Cranberry - 200 gms
* Sugar - 3/4 cup [Increase or Decrease according to the tartness of the Cranberries]
* Brandy - 1 tbsp
* Water - 3/4 cup
For Chocolate Lace
* Chocolate chips - 80 gms
* Milk - 2-3 tbsp [Optional]
Cooking
For Chocolate Cake
1. Sift the Flour, Corn Flour, Salt, Baking powder and Cocoa powder and keep aside. This forms the dry ingredients.
2. Grease and line the pans [I used two 8" inch pans] with parchment paper and preheat the Oven to 350 Degree Fahrenheit.
3. Melt the Butter and Dark chocolate mixture on a double boiler and mix well to form a liquid and let it cool for 5 mins.
4. In a large vessel, add the Eggs and Sugar. Beat with a hand-mixer for about 15-20 mins until enough air is incorporated and it gains a foamy texture [A stand mixer like Kitchen Aid takes lesser time to whip air into the Eggs].
5. Add the Vanilla Extract and the slightly cooled Dark chocolate and Butter mixture into the beaten Eggs. Beat for 2 mins until everything is mixed well.
6. Add the sifted dry ingredients into the beaten Egg mixture. Fold the ingredients and remove all lumps.
7. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pans and place the pans into the preheated Oven for about 30-45 mins [the time needs to be adjusted depending on the size of your cake pans]. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake to check whether it is done.
8. Once done, remove the pans from the Oven and let it rest for 2-3 hours until it cools down completely.
For Cream Cheese Frosting
1. In a large cold vessel, add the Sugar and the cold Whipping Cream and whip for about 5 mins using a hand-mixer until soft peaks form.
2. At this stage, add the Cream Cheese [at room temperature], Vanilla Extract and whip again for another 2-3 mins until firm peaks form and all the ingredients are mixed well.
3. Let the Cream Cheese frosting rest in the fridge for about 2-3 hrs to firm it further.
For Cranberry Sauce
1. Wash and drain the Cranberries. Pat them dry.
2. In a saucepan, add the Cranberries, Sugar, Brandy and water and mix well. Place the saucepan on Stove on medium-heat for about 10-15 mins and keep stirring.
3. The Cranberries start popping and get soft and mushy. It renders a thick sauce.
4. Filter the mixture through a sieve to get a consistent and thick sauce.
For Assembling
1. Layer the Chocolate Cake [if more layers are needed, you can slit the cake into 2] and brush a thin layer of the Cranberry Sauce. Top it with the frosting and repeat with the remaining layers of Cake.
2. Once layered, cover the top and sides of the Cake with the frosting.
3. Pipe the frosting on the top as per your desire using piping tips of your choice.
For Chocolate Lace
1. Cut a parchment paper with length equivalent to the circumference and width to the height of the cake.
2. Melt Chocolate of your choice in a double boiler pan or microwave to form a thin liquid mixture. Add 2-3 tablespoons of milk if required.
3. Transfer the melted Chocolate mixture into a piping bag with a small round piping tip [No 3 or No 4 in Wilton piping tips]. Then pipe the Chocolate mixture onto the cut parchment paper as per your interest.
4. After 2-3 mins, when the Chocolate is still flexible, wrap the parchment paper around the sides of the cake with the chocolate lace facing inwards [onto the side of the cake].
5. Refrigerate the Cake for an hour and remove the strip of parchment paper carefully.
The Cake needs to be refrigerated and can be served cold or at room temperature.
I did some on-the-spot testing for the cake and the frosting while I was making the Cake. But we never got to taste the final product as it was finished by the time we went for Desserts. So I hope to believe it was liked by all the folks who were present :)
