Chocolate gateau – a sinfully delicious chocolate cake layered with a chocolate-heavy cream filling.
Gateau Cake
Making a chocolate gateau cake is easier than you might think. It looks impressive, but the cakes are easy to make (best chocolate cakes ever, by the way) and the filling is made with only heavy cream and two sorts of chocolate.
What can I tell you about this gateau?
It is my favorite chocolate cake.
I have been making this cake for at least 8 years now, not only for us but most of the time for other people, so I am baking it about 7 or 8 times every year, there is no other one that I get to bake so often. I don’t even have to check the recipe anymore, it is the only cake recipe I know by heart.
How to make the filling?
The filling recipe was given to me by my mother-in-law, she used to make it for the chocolate cakes they used to sell in the bakery/confectionery they used to have when my husband’s father was still alive.
Chocolate:
- The filling for the chocolate gateau is a very simple and versatile one. The very best thing about it is that you will only need three ingredients to make it: dark chocolate (between 70 and 80 % cocoa), milk chocolate, and double/heavy cream.
- Buy good brands to make the filling, only the kind of chocolate you would enjoy eating as it is as well. There is so much of it in this filling that you will definitely be able to taste the chocolate itself, so it has to be something good.
- This is not a sponsored post, but I still recommend using Lindt dark chocolate 70% cocoa and Milka (German), they are the two sorts I use most of the time. Usually, I would go for dark Lindt and milk Milka. (Amazon affiliate links)
- You will have to make the filling one day in advance, as it needs time to set in the fridge.
Chocolate cream step by step:
- Chop the chocolate very finely.
- Pour the heavy cream into a small pot, slowly bring to a boil, take off the heat, and add the chocolate to the cream.
- Stir slowly until the chocolate has melted. Place a piece of plastic foil directly over the cream (so that it doesn’t form a “skin”), let the mixture get cold then place it in the fridge until the next day.
- When ready to use (the next day) whisk the cream mixture until stiff with the electric mixer like you would normally whisk heavy cream.
A word of advice: don’t be tempted to add sugar to the filling, even if you might think it could be sweeter. The cake itself is sweet enough so that the filling should not be sweeter than it already is.
Chocolate cake
- The gateau looks really impressive, one would think you’d have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and use some fancy ingredients to make it, but don’t worry, making this particular cake is a “piece of cake”, everything is stirred in no time and the filling must be one of the easiest I know.
- And the taste is just amazing: chocolate, a dense moist cake sandwiched with this wonderful, luscious cream filling.
- The chocolate gateau can be baked one day in advance as well. Let the cakes get cold on a wire rack, wrap them tightly in plastic foil to prevent them from drying out and keep refrigerated until the next day.
- If it’s not too warm, you can keep them at room temperature until the next day as well, just make sure you wrap them well.
Assemble:
- When the cakes are completely cool, cut each one into two equal slices, so that you will have four layers.
- Whisk the filling until stiff with the electric mixer like you would normally whisk double cream.
- Place one layer on a platter. Add some of the whipped cream, then the second layer, and so on. Cover with the remaining cream mixture, you should use about half of it for the layers and half of it for covering the whole cake.
- Decorate to your liking. I used dried strawberries and meringues, crushed between my fingers, some chopped pistachios, and some hazelnut brittle.
- This recipe is part of the Harry Potter series, my interpretation of the chocolate gateau Ron Wesley stuffs his face with in the 6th book of the series.
More chocolate cakes?
Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Triple Chocolate Cake with Ganache
Kinder Cake (with Kinder candy)
Chocolate Gateau
Chocolate gateau – a sinfully delicious chocolate cake layered with a chocolate-double cream filling. Making an impressive gateau is easier than you think!
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Servings: 10
Calories: 572kcal
Equipment
- 2 springforms or cake pans of 20 cm/8-inch diameter
Ingredients
- Chocolate cream filling:
- 500 ml heavy cream 17 fl.oz/ 2 cups
- 100 g milk chocolate 3.5 oz (Note 2)
- 100 g dark chocolate 70 – 75 % cocoa 3.5 oz
- Chocolate cake:
- 210 g all-purpose flour 7.4 oz/ 1 ¾ cups
- 400 g granulated sugar 14 oz/ 2 cups
- 85 g unsweetened cocoa powder 3 oz/ ¾ cups
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 250 ml buttermilk 8.5 fl.oz/ 1 cup
- 120 ml vegetable oil 4 oz/ ½ cup
- 2 eggs large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250 ml hot coffee 8.5 fl.oz/ 1 cup
- Decoration optional, you can decorate as you like:
- dried strawberries
- meringues
- chopped pistachios
Instructions
Chocolate cream filling:
- Start one day in advance by making the filling.
- Ganache: Chop the chocolate very finely. Pour the heavy cream into a small pot, carefully bring to a boil, take off the heat, and add the chocolate to the cream. Stir slowly until the chocolate has melted. Place a piece of plastic foil directly over the chocolate cream (so that it doesn't form a "skin"), let the mixture cool completely, then place it in the fridge until the next day.
Chocolate cake:
- You could bake the cakes one day in advance as well. Let them cool completely, then wrap them tightly in plastic foil to prevent them from drying out.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour 2 springforms or cake pans of 20 cm/8-inch diameter. Brew one cup of strong coffee.
- Dry ingredients: In a large bowl, mix and sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Wet ingredients: Combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract, preferably in a jug or another bowl. Slowly, pour this mixture over the dry ingredients whisking with an electric mixer at very low speed.
- Combine: Add the hot coffee and stir with a spatula very shortly until the ingredients are just combined. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl as well in the process. Divide the mixture into two equal parts (I use the scale to make sure I divide the mixture evenly) and pour it into the two prepared forms.
- Bake for about 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out relatively clean, it can still be a bit wet, but it should not be covered in chocolate. Let cool in the pan for a while, then transfer the cakes to wire racks and let cool completely.
Assemble the chocolate gateau:
- Cut cakes: When the cakes are completely cooled, cut each one into two equal slices.
- Whip the chocolate-heavy cream mixture until stiff with the electric mixer like you would typically whisk heavy cream.
- Assemble the cake: Place one cake layer on a cake platter. Add some of the chocolate cream, then the second cake layer, cream, third cake layer, cream again, last cake layer. Cover the cake with the remaining chocolate cream, you should use about half of it for layering the cake and half of it for covering the whole cake.
- Decorate the cake to your liking. I used dried strawberries and meringues, crushed between my fingers, some chopped pistachios, and some hazelnut brittle.
Notes
- Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking; it ensures the best results (Amazon affiliate link).
- For a genuine taste, I recommend using German/European style chocolate (Milka, Lindt – German, Belgian or Swiss chocolate) (All Amazon affiliate links).
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 572kcal | Carbohydrates: 76g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 495mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 53g
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Nadira dawood
Monday 31st of May 2021
Hi!I'm so glad I found this recipe. I'm currently making it for my husband's birthday.. I made the filling yesterday n placed in the refrigerator, I wanted to know how much Stabiliser to add and when to add it?
Nadira dawood
Friday 4th of June 2021
@Adina,HI!When I first made this cake it was delicious, I made the gateaux with only milk choc... But I have an order for it and used dark and milk choc as stated in the recipe but my ganache isn't looking smooth what do I do? Please help h I whipped it and added some Stabiliser as well
Adina
Monday 31st of May 2021
Hi Nadira. You can add it when you beat the filling, 1 small envelope should be enough. It's not always necessary, it depends on the fat percentage of the heavy cream, if it's over 36% the cream should be stable enough. If the fat percentage is only about 30% (like regular heavy cream in Germany), then you should use some stabilizer.
Virginia
Wednesday 25th of November 2020
Hello! This looks delicious! I'm really looking forward to making this cake but I have one concern - the recipe asks for HOT coffee. Last time I made a chocolate cake where recipe asked for hot water it made strange reaction almost immediately after pouring the water into the batter. The batter became super gooey but I baked it anyway. It turned out flat, compact and not edible...
Adina
Wednesday 25th of November 2020
Hi Virginia. It never happened to me and I baked this cake like a million times. I make the coffee before I start with mixing the batter, so it has a few minutes of cool time, I really never noticed anything strange. Happy baking!
Adina
Sunday 22nd of November 2020
Hi Karolina. I'm m sorry about that. Yes, you should take the cream out of the fridge earlier, it will soften as it comes to room temperature. I will add that to the recipe.
Karolina
Sunday 22nd of November 2020
I made a cake but I had trouble with chocolate filling. It was very hard and I couldn’t even beat it with mixer? Do you know why? Should I take it out from fridge earlier before assembling cake?
Amanda Barker
Friday 23rd of October 2020
Hi, I'm really excited to try making this but I have a question about the coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker, does it need to be added? What kind of coffee? I have some decaff at my house for my Mam when she visits, but should I use some of her 'fancy' coffee? What do you recommend for a non coffee drinker? Thanks
Adina
Friday 23rd of October 2020
Hi Amanda. Decaff is fine, you don't need anything special. The coffee enhances the chocolate flavor, but you will not actually taste the coffee itself. You could use water instead, but in my experience, you can always taste when a cake was made with water, I don't like using it, generally.