Chocolate Cake with Coconut Oil

I’ve been using coconut oil for a while now, I originally bought it as I heard it made a great face cleanser and I’ve recently starting including it in recipes. Chocolate cake is and always will be my favourite cake and I had a thought the other day when I went to make one, that I’d try replacing the vegetable oil with coconut oil. The result was a decadent, slightly denser cake with just a hint of coconut. I used ‘The Perfect Chocolate Cake‘ recipe from I Am Baker and simply switched the oils. I love this recipe because although it uses cocoa and not chocolate in the cake, it still tastes rich, which is not always the case with cocoa-based bakes. It also contains coffee, which helps to enhance the flavour of the chocolate. You can’t taste the coffee at all, so don’t be afraid to use it even if (like me) you hate coffee. To decorate this cake I used raspberry powder (which also lent a delicate flavour) and roses from the garden.

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 large eggs (room temperature)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed coffee (don’t skip this ingredient)

Chocolate Ganache:

1 & 1/3 cup (8 oz or 225 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (I used 72%)
1 cup heavy cream

Method:

1. Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit (175 degrees celsius). Line and grease two 8 inch pans or one 10 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Add the sugar and salt and mix to combine.
3. In a medium bowl, add the buttermilk, melted coconut oil, eggs and vanilla.
4. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir until just combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.
6. Make the ganache: chop chocolate into small pieces and place into a large heatproof bowl. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the cream until it’s just starting to boil. Pour over the chocolate and let stand for 10 minutes. Then stir the mixture gently, incorporating the cream steadily without overworking. The mixture should begin to appear glossy. Pour over cake and enjoy!