Chocolate Cake ~ with minimal butter

Chocolate cakes, leave me tempting every single time I see them. I had tried different versions of it in the past. But the amount of butter or oil and sugar, that goes into it, held me back from making it often. My kido loves chocolate cake, so to make it for him would mean, we would end up eating it too. Who can resist the temptation of having a slice from such a delicious and chocolatey cake, right?

When I came across this recipe, it was hard to believe how little butter could yield such a delicious and soft cake. I was not so thrilled to try it first, thinking, it wouldn't turn up as I expected. But I must tell you, there was no delay in trying it the second time and then the third time and then multiple times that we have made this cake. 

Its just an amazing cake and a recipe to keep. It has never gone wrong for me, and I bet and wish that it shouldn't, for you too. Want to try? Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

For the cake

1. 2 cups of all purpose flour
2. 1 3/4 cup of sugar
3. 3/4 cup of cocoa powder (I used Hershey's extra dark cocoa powder)
4. 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
5. 1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp of yogurt
6. 1/2 cup of unsalted butter
7. 3 eggs @ room temperature
8. 1 tsp of vanilla extract

For the chocolate ganache

1. 1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips/morsels
2. 3/4 cup of whipping cream

Method

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease the baking pan and keep it aside.
• In a bowl, mix the ingredients 1-4 and keep it aside.
• In another bowl, take the butter and beat it untill smooth. To it add the eggs and beat it.
• Now add the yogurt and vanilla extract and beat it.
• Add the dry ingredients little by little to the wet ingredients as you mix it in.
• Pour it into the greased baking pans and bake it for about 30-40 minutes or untill a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• I wanted layered cake, so I divided the cake batter into two 6 inch baking pans, which yields two cake. 

Making of chocolate ganache

• Heat the whipping cream in a sauce pan, just untill it starts to boil. Switch off and pour it on top of the dark chocolate.
• Using a spatula, stir it untill the chocolate gets melted and mixed well to obtain a molten liquid chocolate consistency.
• Using a plastic wrap cover the chocolate, such that the plastic wrap touches the surface of the molten chocolate. This prevents formation of crystals/crust in the chocolate ganache .
• Let it rest covered at room temperature for about 3-4 hours untill the mixture has cooled down completely. It should neither be too warm nor too cold to touch.
• Now beat the chocolate mixture using a hand mixture on high spread for about 4-5 minutes untill it turns lighter in colour and fluffier but still has a pouring consistency.
• Wrap it again in plastic wrap and let it rest for another hour. It will firm up a bit. Use it to spread or decorate the cake as you wish.

Tips

1. This cake is so easy and forgiving that you do not have to even use a hand mixer to mix the cake batter. Just using a whisk and a spatula would do the job.
2. For the ganache, you could also use the microwave. Heat the chocolate and whipping cream for 30 seconds and then stir. Repeat the heating and stirring untill you get a molten liquid chocolate consistency.
3. Do not overbeat the ganache else, it would split.