Chocolate sour cream cake: Riverstone Kitchen

Ingredients

3 cups plain flour
3 cups caster sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
3 free-range eggs, at room temperature
250ml lukewarm water
250g sour cream, warmed slightly
125g unsalted butter

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Sift dry ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer before adding the remaining ingredients (except the ganache). Mix with a whisk attachment on low speed for 3 minutes. Turn to high speed and mix for a further 30 seconds.

Pour cake batter into a baking paper-lined 28cm cake tin with a removable base. Bake for 1½ hours or until cake is just cooked and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from cake tin and placing on a cake rack.

To ganache cake, place an oven tray under the rack which holds the cake and pour chocolate ganache, while still warm, over the centre of the cake. The chocolate will spread and run over the sides. Cover any bare patches with spare ganache using a spatula, and place into the refrigerator for 30 minutes for the ganache to set. Serve cake at room temperature.

Chocolate Ganache
400g 53% dark chocolate buttons
250ml cream

Place chocolate buttons in a stainless-steel bowl and melt over a medium-sized pot of simmering water. Meanwhile, place cream into a small pot and heat over a low heat, until just warm.

Remove melted chocolate from heat and add warm cream, stirring well to make a smooth, silky ganache. If not using ganache straight away, cool and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to two weeks. When ready to use, warm ganache slightly in microwave until it reaches a pourable consistency.

Extracted with permission from Riverstone Kitchen Modern-Day Classics © Bevan Smith, $44.99 RRP (distributed by Upstart Press). Photo credit: Emma Willetts