Chocolate Cake & Mango Ganache

Yup! We are going to Israel this summer for vacation. I cannot contain my excitement!  I am leaving this Friday, and wont return for 2 weeks. Therefore, I want to leave all my readers with a dangerously addictive mix-in-pan-eggless-chocolate-cake. All my desserts have some basic chocolate flavor to it recently, and that is because chocolate has been on mind- A LOT! Hopefully getting a change of scenery, will help inspire some  new dishes. I have a feeling I may also post from Israel as I am taking my laptop with me.

Most of what I bake on my blog is from JoyofBaking.com A FABULOUS baking website and just my style.

A story about the Mango Ganache: It was supposed to be Mango frosting but it turned into ganache. I never made frosting before because I don't like decorating cakes or desserts much. I find it time consuming, but you may have guessed that by now because most of my recipes are super simple. Anyway, I had a mango staring at me in the fridge, calling out my name! Ok, so when I somehow ruined tried the recipe, I had no idea at what point frosting becomes frosting.  Anyway, I completely freaked out  that even after adding so much sugar, the consistency would not harden. It was making me sick. I couldn't go on any further,  so I left the soft consistency and managed to chill it in fridge long enough for it to become a mangoish glaze over the chocolate cake.

SO, I guess I will see you all on the other side of this break?
In the meantime, I hope I have convinced you to make this cake, and EAT IT!

Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Joyofbaking.com

1 1/2 cups  all purpose flour

1 cup  granulated white sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed), sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon lemon juice (or vinegar)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F  and place rack in center of oven. In an ungreased 8 inch square cake pan, stir together the flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the melted butter, water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. With a fork, mix all the ingredients together until well blended. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Mango Frosting Ganache

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup mango puree(blend mango chunks in blender with sugar)
Zest and juice of 1 lime
  
4-5 cups of powdered sugar (i ended up using 6 cups & stopped)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add mango puree, zest and juice. Mix well. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until desired spreading consistency is reached. My consistency never reached a peak. After a while, adding more powdered sugar just made it too sweet. I didn't want my chocolate cake to be overpowered by a "too-sugary" frosting/ganache. I also chilled it for about 1 hr, before applying on cake.  This particular recipe created a whole lot of ganache, I think one can easily half the quantity for a regular cake.

ice.eat.enjoy!