How to make the best chocolate cake?

Chocolate cake is a cake that needs to be luscious, but still full of chocolate flavour. When making a chocolate cake, it''s not just about what ingredients you use, but also how you go about it. If you''re in that group that prefers to buy chocolate cake from a shop or a patisserie because it never works at home, then you''re in the right place.

Read our chocolate cake tips, prepare the baking powder and baking soda, fire up the oven and start preparing!

1. Buttermilk in the recipe. What is it anyway, can I replace it?

To make the chocolate cake you need buttermilk. Buttermilk is an ingredient that interacts perfectly with other ingredients. Buttermilk is the liquid residue left after butter has been churned. It can easily be replaced by milk and vinegar or lemon juice.

2. What kind of cocoa powder should I use?

To make chocolate cake, use BAM cocoa powder. Cocoa powder has a warm, red-brown colour and a pleasant chocolate flavour. Cocoa beans from West Africa form the base of the cocoa, while beans from other parts of Africa, Asia and South America add extra flavour and spice. The very fine texture makes it easy to blend. It is ideal for cake biscuits, cakes, ice creams and other desserts.

3. Don''t skip a step - always sieve dry ingredients.

A very important step in the preparation of chocolate cake is the preparation of the ingredients. If we sift the dry ingredients before use, this will evenly distribute the added leavening agents and prevent the formation of lumps that may be contained in flour, baking powder, baking soda or cocoa powder.

4. Use oil instead of butter.

Oils such as vegetable oil, which contains 100 % fat, will be a better choice than butter when making chocolate cake. Butter is about 80 per cent fat and 20 per cent water. Therefore, if butter is used, the excess water in the butter will evaporate during baking, resulting in a slightly dry cake. However, if oil is used, the extra fat will add more moisture to the cake.

5. Add a little espresso to the chocolate cake.

Many chocolate cake recipes call for adding boiling water to the batter just before the cake goes into the oven. This thins the batter so it''s not so thick and heavy, but it also activates the leavening chemicals to make the batter rise before baking, and it also blooms the cocoa powder, which helps to release all its delicious flavours.

And if you want to elevate the flavour of the chocolate cake even further, add coffee to the boiling water before baking. The coffee will intensify the chocolate flavour and at the same time ensure that the cake does not taste strongly of coffee.

The recipe for the best chocolate cake is waiting for you here.