Chocolate Raspberry Summer Delight

A combination of rich chocolate cake with light raspberry cream, makes this cake a true summer delight

This recipe, like most of my recipes, is adjusted to suit my taste, and there is nothing better than the pairing of chocolate and raspberries.

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake

Semisweet chocolate 12 oz (350 g)

All purpose- flour 2 cups (300 g)

Unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 cups (50 g)

Baking powder 2 tsp

Baking soda 1/2 tsp

Salt 1/4

Butter 1/3 cup (90 g )

Superfine sugar 1 1/4 cups (250 g)

Large eggs 4

Milk 1/2 cups (125 ml)

Vegetable oil 2 tbsp

For the raspberry cream

Unflavored gelatin 2 tbsp (30 ml)

Raspberry juice ( or berry juice) 1/3 cup (75 ml)

Maraschino cherry syrup 2 tbsp (30 ml)

Lemon juice 2 tbsp (30 ml)

Whole frozen thawed raspberries 1 lb. (454 g)

Whipping cream 2 cups (500 ml)

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Butter and flower a 9 inch spring-form pan.

Melt the chocolate in a double broiler over barely simmering water, set aside to cool.

Shift the flour, cocoa, baking soda,baking powder and salt in a bowl.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy. Add the eggs one at the time beating until just blended after each addition.
Turn the mixer on low speed and add the dry ingredients alternating with the chocolate, milk and oil. Start and end with the dry ingredients. I started with 1/3 flour, 1/2 of the chocolate, 1/2 of the milk, half of the oil, then again 1/3 flour,the rest of the chocolate, the remanning of the milk,and the rest of the oil , finishing with the last part of the flour mixture.

This is how the mixture looks.
Spoon the batter into the prepared form and bake for 50 to 60 minutes (mine took exactly one hour ). Do the test with the toothpick, when it comes out clean the cake is ready.

Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, remove to wire rack and cool completely.

I like my cakes leveled it is easier to decorate. This is a easy way to level the top of the cake:

Find the lowest part of the cake, with a ruler measure from bottom to the lowest part mark with 1 or 2 toothpicks, go to the opposite site measure and mark with toothpicks at the "lowest point" do this in four sides. With a serrated knife,using the toothpicks as guide cut the top of the cake. Now you should have a leveled cake.
This is how the leveled cake should look.
For the cream:

In a small sauce pan pour the raspberry juice, sprinkle gelatin over top let stand for 1 minute. Add the sugar and stir. Don't worry if it looks like there is no more liquid left. Put on the stove and stir(on low heat) until the sugar is dissolved 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add the lemon and the maraschino juice mix set aside.

In large bowl purée the raspberry and if the seeds are something that you dislike force through a sieve. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of raspberry purée left.
Mix the gelatin with the raspberry purée. Refrigerated the mixture for 1/2 hour stirring occasionally, until starting to thicken.
In different bowl beat the whipping cream until soft picks form. Transfer the raspberry mixture in a larger bowl and gradually fold in the whipped cream.

This is how the cream looks.

Spoon the cream in the middle of the cake and with a icing spatula cover the whole cake. The cream is very easy to work with. Decorate with fresh raspberries or follow your imagination. Chill for 2 hours before serving.

And a section of the cake.

Bone appetite!