ADear cake guruh's,

I use a vanilla cake and a chocolate cake for my orders. While the chocolate cake is very nice and not too dry, I find it hard to work with the cake. Especially when I handle the cake, tort it etc, I need to be very careful, otherwise it will break. If I use a fruit filling, even with the ganache border that I pipe in which the fruit filling sits, it stays very wobbly. I don't have that problem with the vanilla cake. I use ganache so in the end the ganache coat holds the choc cake together, but it's a matter of time of course until something happens. I usually use a dowel to give it a bit more strength.

The recipe I use is:

75 gr dark chocolate 100 ml whole milk 225 gr dark brown sugar 75 gr butter 2 eggs 150 gr white flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda Pinch of salt

Choc, milk and half of the sugar is melted, butter and the other half of the sugar is mixed to a fluffy consistency, eggs are added, then the flour and then the melted choc (still warm) I mix it very shortly. I bake on 160 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes. I do have to say that the original recipe calls for 25 gr of cocoa powder, which I leave out as I thought that it's only in the recipe for taste. I find the dark chocolate is enough taste wise. So it's a very wet batter.

What can I do to make the cake a bit more sturdy? Bake longer? Add the cocoa powder? Or something else?

Thanks in advance :)

i would say yes add the cocoa and i would mix it for about 1-2 minutes as well after all is incorporated -- i bet you get a more manageable product

AThanks, really appreciate your reply :)

One last question, would you advice mixing all the ingredients at high speed or low speed?

ASuuske, maybe you do this already so I may not be adding any help but you never know!

My chocolate cake is sort of fudge/mud cake consistency and is also very brittle.

I find that my way around this is leaving them on the drying racks on top of a piece of grease proof paper/baking paper overnight.

This seems to settle the cake and make it easier to tort and move!

A

I do already:wink: when cooled I wrap the cakes in baking paper and foil and let it sit overnight.

I am sort do glad to read that it is probably the type of cake for being brittle and that it's not completely my inability to bake a cake. I will add the cocoa and longer mixing as K8 suggested, hopefully making it a bit more sturdy.

AI doubt it's your ability, probably just the type of cake. The recipe seems to me like it is a mud cake.

One thing that I would do differently though is add the melted chocolate after you fluff the butter and sugar. Still add the dry ingredients last.

Sorry I couldn't have helped! :)

AYou did help. I will try adding the melted choc before the eggs en do the dry ingredients last, will add the cocoa powder and mix a bit longer.

Thanks for the advice :-)