The February 2021 Bake Off Box challenge was the Signature Chocolate Cake – a rich chocolate cake smothered in chocolate ganache and topped with fresh raspberries!
As you can imagine, a lot of baking happens in my house 😜 I love baking of course but I mostly bake for blog purposes these days, alongside my full-time job as an optometrist!
Therefore, when I found out about The Bake Off Box I thought it would be a fun way of switching off from blog baking and doing some baking just for me! My partner then suggested I share a little related post each month, so here it is 🙂
The Bake Off Box is a monthly subscription service where you receive a box containing a recipe card and all the pre-measured dry ingredients of something different every month. You also receive some kind of baking equipment – this month it was a cake stand!
The February 2020 box contained almost everything I needed to make the Signature Chocolate Cake. That’s the cake from the Great British Bake Off intro! I just needed to supply the wet ingredients.
(This is not a sponsored/affiliate post so I don’t get anything for sharing this blog post – it’s just me sharing my experience!)
The February Bake Off Box Contents
This month my box contained the following:
- Recipe card
- Pre-measured dry ingredients for the recipe (I needed to supply salt, milk, vegetable oil, eggs, butter, double cream and fresh raspberries)
- A beautiful blue bamboo cake stand!
February Bake Off Box: Signature Chocolate Cake
The cake was very easy to make with no electric mixers needed, just two mixing bowls and a whisk. You’ll need two 20cm/8in sandwich/cake tins for this recipe, which you line with baking or parchment paper.
I’ve typed up the full recipe and instructions (recipe created by The Great British Bake Off, not myself) – you can find it at the bottom of this post!
Bake Off Box Signature Chocolate Cake: My Verdict
Overall I found the cake fun and easy to make! The cake is quite dense but moist and rich. The ganache is delicious but I felt I would have liked more to create a thicker layer of ganache around the outside.
I love how the simple addition of raspberries on top really sets this off and makes it look so pretty!
I’ll definitely keep my subscription for now to see what other recipes I receive in the post – I believe next month it’s mini banana loaves with a special pan included to make them!
Baker Jo Layer Cake recipes to try:
- Vanilla Layer Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
- Chocolate Coconut Cake
- Gingerbread Latte Cake
- Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake with Meringue Kisses
The Bake Off Box: Signature Chocolate Cake
Equipment
- Baking/parchment paper
- 20cm/8in sandwich/cake tins
- 2 large mixing bowls
- Sieve
- Whisk
- Medium saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Palette knife or spatula
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 245 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 400 g caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 80 g cocoa powder
- 250 ml whole milk
- 130 ml vegetable oil
- 230 ml warm water
- 2 medium eggs
Chocolate Ganache
- 200 g dark chocolate finely chopped
- 10 g unsalted butter
- 300 ml double cream
- 2 tsp caster sugar
Decoration
- 300 g fresh raspberries
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4. Grease two 20cm solid-base sponge tins with a little oil and line the bases with baking paper.
- Sift the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, salt and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, oil and warm water, then lightly beat in the eggs.
- One third at a time, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing well between each addition. Make sure the mixture is smooth with no pockets of flour.
- Divide your mixture equally between the two sponge tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean.
- Once baked, cool in the tins for 10 minutes.
- Carefully turn the sponges out onto a wire rack, remove the baking paper and leave to cool completely.
Chocolate Ganache
- Place the chocolate and butter in a clean mixing bowl and set aside.
- Pour the cream into a medium saucepan with 2 teaspoons of sugar, stir with a wooden spoon, and slowly bring just to the boil.
- Remove the cream mixture from the heat and pour it over the chocolate and butter. Leave the chocolate to melt for 1 minute, without stirring.
- Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth and glossy. Leave to cool and thicken (at least 20 minutes) before decorating.
Decoration
- Place one sponge on your cake stand and spread about 4 tablespoons of ganache over the top, smoothing with the back of a large metal spoon or palette knife.
- Place the second sponge on top, with the flat side facing upwards, and gently press down. Cover the top and sides with the remaining ganache.
- Make swirls in the ganache with your knife to create some texture (I chose keep my sides smooth), then arrange the raspberries on top of the cake to cover.
- Leave to set for 30 minutes before serving.
I thought the sponge was lovely! Very moist, and not too sweet! I did have a problem with the ganache. It set and was very runny. I think it’s probably the fat content of the whipping cream as opposed to the double cream. The flavor was good though. And it’s so fun that there are subscription boxes! This was my son’s birthday cake request all because of the Hreat British Bake Off! Thank you for sharing!
Made this past weekend as one of the numbers for a 50th Anniversary custom cake order. Followed the recipe to a “T” following conversion to American measure and it was honestly the BEST chocolate cake I have ever made. The key to this cake, as with all others, is to make sure you are using QUALITY ingredients for optimal flavor and texture. For the person who ended up with a dry cake, you probably need to examine your ingredients. I always use King Arthur flour, because the texture and bake is always consistent. Cocoa powder wise I stick with Ghiradelli, but will use Hershey’s 100% cocoa in a pinch. The regular cocoa, NOT the dark chocolate kind. Chocolate wise, I stick with Lindt baking bars for the most part, but will use Ghiradelli in a pinch. You MUST use chocolate meant for baking and not just a candy bar you’d buy. The cocoa and oil and letchtin contents have to be proper for baking! Whipping cream and eggs, I rely on local farmers. My sister has chickens so I am able to get wonderful fresh eggs from her free-range ladies. You wouldn’t think that this makes much of a difference, but it really, REALLY does! Ingredients and proper measurement are EVERYTHING in baking. I did make one change, instead of the ganache, which can be pretty heavy, I made a Whipped cocoa Swiss Buttercream and it was perfection! Topped with some fresh raspberries, a few raspberry macaroons, and some homemade raspberry candies, the zero in the 50 turned out absolutely beautiful! The 5 was my Victorian Sponge with homemade strawberry jam, white chocolate whipped Swiss buttercream and fresh raspberries on the inside. To. Die. For. My clients were very happy!! Thanks Jo for the recipe! This is going to be my “go to” chocolate cake base from now on!! Keep them coming!
Author
Wow, thanks so much for your feedback and I’m so happy you love the recipe!
The cake turned out quite dry, and overall bitter and lacking in flavor. 1/10, do not recommend.
Author
Hi Rebekah,
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this Bake Off recipe!
This looks amazing, and once were finished the chocolate cake we’ve got on the go currently, I’ll definitely try baking this one; the chocolate ganache looks so tasty! It’s so neat that there are subscription baking boxes now! Just one question, what is the milk fat content for “double cream” I’m in Canada and we don’t have that product, or call it something else. Thanks!
Author
Hi Noranda,
So glad to hear you’re going to give this a try! I’ve tried looking into this for you and it seems your closest equivalent is “whipping cream” which has around 35% fat. British double cream has up to 48% fat which means it would have a creamier taste, but using whipping cream instead shouldn’t affect the recipe much 🙂 hope this helps!