Portlaoise restaurateur Imelda Tynan shares her most indulgent chocolate cake recipe

Every day in Tynan’s we meet people who come in just to have their favourite dish.

When people really want a treat they go straight for the dessert counter and this week’s Triple Chocolate Cake is going to be a regular.

It is probably the most indulgent chocolate cake I’ve ever made. It has three stages, the cake, syrup and gorgeous ganache, and there is chocolate at each one. Having a good chocolate cake in your baking skills is a good idea and this is definitely that recipe.  It is absolutely delicious and gluten free. If you want a luscious cake, this is the one to try.

Triple Chocolate Cake

4oz Butter

4oz Dark Chocolate

14oz Castor Sugar

7oz Gluten Free Flour

7oz Cocoa Powder

2tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder

1 Pinch Salt

10½fl oz. Buttermilk

4oz Sunflower Oil

4 Eggs

Preheat the oven to 180° and Grease 2 x 10” round cake tins and line with greaseproof paper. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a wide bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Remove from the heat and leave to one side.

In a mixing bowl stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk the buttermilk, oil and eggs together.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and whisk. Divide the batter between two cake tins. Bake for 30 minutes, check the centre so and give another 5 minutes if needed. Remove from the oven and place the tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes to cool.

Syrup

7oz Castor Sugar

4fl oz. Water

2oz Cocoa Powder

Pinch Salt

½tbsp Glucose Syrup

½tbsp Vanilla Extract

2fl oz. Cream Liqueur of your Choice (gluten free)

In a medium saucepan place the sugar, water, cocoa powder and salt and bring to the boil stirring all the time, add the glucose syrup and vanilla extract and stir well to blend, remove from the heat and stir in the liqueur and leave to cool. This syrup will do a couple of cakes and lasts for a couple of months in the fridge in an airtight container.

Ganache

17fl oz. Double Cream

8oz Butter, sliced

5oz Sugar

3oz Glucose Syrup

½tsp Salt

2lb Dark Chocolate

In a medium saucepan place the cream, butter, sugar, water, glucose syrup and salt and bring to a bare simmer stirring all the time, remove from the heat and stir until the butter has completely melted. Add in the chocolate and whisk until it has melted and the mix is smooth and glossy. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours stirring occasionally.

To assemble the cake use a pastry brush to glaze each layer of the cake with the liqueur syrup. Place the bottom layer onto a nice round plate, spoon on a good layer of frosting to the centre of the cake and put the second layer on top, then cover the whole cake with ganache so that the cake is completely covered. Put the remaining ganache into a piping bag and pipe to decorate.

If you use smaller cake tins, you will get a higher cake which you can cut into four layers. There is plenty of ganache to cover the layers in the recipe.