Whether it is because of the vivid fall colors or because of the drop in temperature, fall seems the time of year to eat a hearty, dark chocolate cake. The secret ingredient for this cake recipe is the olive oil. It creates a moist, delicious cake. The ganache frosting is the perfect topping because it is less sweet than regular frosting. I added the meringue ghosts, well, just because it is that time of year! Click here to jump ahead to the recipe.
| Cook Time | 2 hours |
| Servings |
|
- Olive Oil and cocoa powder for the pan
- 1/2 cup Dutch-processed (dark) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 2/3 cup olive oil, light for baking
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate drops or chopped chocolate (at least 60 percent cacao)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tube of black decorating icing gel
- Candy eyes
Ingredients
Olive Oil Cake Ingredients
Ganache Frosting Ingredients
Ghost Meringue Ingredients
|
Rate this recipe!
|
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Oil an 8×2-inch round cake pan with olive oil and line the bottom of the pan with round-cut parchment paper. Oil the paper and dust pan lightly with cocoa.
- In a microwave bowl, boil ½ cup of water. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder into a bowl. Stir 6 tablespoons of the boiling water into the cocoa until it’s smooth and glossy. Add extra water if needed. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Set aside to cool.
- In another small bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs and yolk, olive oil, and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed 2-3 minutes until thick and creamy. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the cooled cocoa mixture until it’s well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Place wet, bake-even strips* around the outside of the cake pan and secure.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake in the center of the oven on the middle rack until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it but with no wet batter, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes. Then run a thin knife around the inside edge to release the cake. Turn the cake out on a cooling rack and discard the paper liner. Cool completely.
- Heat the cream in a saucepan or in the microwave, until the mixture begins to steam, just before boiling temperature. It should be about 180°-190°.
- Pour hot cream over the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add vanilla extract, if desired. Stir until smooth.
- Use ganache while the chocolate is still warm, but has started to thicken. Reheat if it thickens too much as you work.
- Preheat oven to 225°. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Using a mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until they become foamy.
- Add cream of tartar and continue to beat.
- Add sugar one tablespoon at a time while beating.
- Increase the speed to medium high and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Place the meringue mixture into a piping bag with a large round tip, and pipe onto parchment paper to make a ghost shape about 2 inches tall. Press down and lift up to create layered stacks for each ghost. Experiment with shapes. If you have to start over, scrape up the meringue and place back in mixer to beat again to stiffen.
- Bake ghosts for about 1 hour.
- Turn off oven and cool ghosts until they turn hard. This can take a few hours.
- Add candy eyes with icing gel or draw your own with the black gel.
To get a flat cake without a middle dome, use wet, baking strips around the cake pan. You can buy these at craft stores in the cake-baking section, or you can make your own. To make a strip that you pin together with safety pins, cut a towel long enough to fit around your cake pan and tall enough to fold over and make a double thickness. Wet the strip until very damp, but not dripping. Overlapping the ends, pin the strip with safety pins until it fits securely around pan. Then fill the pan with batter and bake 5 minutes longer or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with crumbs.
You can substitute a gallon size zipper freezer bag for a piping bag. Just snip off a corner to pipe meringue.