Chocolate, Pistachio and Raspberry Cake
Ingredients:
Chocolate Sponge:
330g plain flour
485g caster sugar
120g cocoa powder
2.5 tsp baking powder
2.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 large eggs
330ml milk
150ml vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
185ml boiling water
Pistachio Buttercream:
200g unsalted butter (softened)
400g icing sugar
75g pistachio cream
1-2 tbsp whole milk
Filling:
60g raspberry jam
fresh raspberries (halved)
Chocolate Ganache:
225ml double cream
225g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate
125g milk chocolate
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius (fan)
Add all the ingredients into a large bowl (apart from the boiling water), making sure to sift all the dry ingredients first, and mix together with a hand or electric whisk until smooth
Slowly add the boiling water, mixing as you go until fully combined.
Divide evenly between 3 greased and lined 8 inch cake tins.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out and letting cool fully (if you're making a day ahead, wrap the sponges in cling film while still slightly warm, it will keep them nice and moist!).
For the ganache, heat the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted, then remove from the heat and stir in the cream. Leave to cool (stir occasionally) until it thickens up to a spreading consistency.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream. Mix the butter with the icing sugar until it is very soft, pale and light, then mix in the pistachio cream until fully combined. Depending on the consistency of your pistachio cream, you might need to add a tbsp of milk to loose it up, it needs to be at a spreading consistency.
To stack the cake, level off the sponges with a serrated knife, and sandwich them with a generous layer of the pistachio buttercream, the raspberry jam and fresh raspberries (pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge of the cake before adding the jam and raspberries to prevent them from oozing out when you stack!)
Coat the cake in a think layer of the ganache, using a palette knife or cake scraper to smooth, to create the crumb coat. Place this in the fridge to set before adding a thicker outer layer of ganache. Once this has also set, use the leftover ganache to pipe detailing and decoration on the cake.
Enjoy!