Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Chopped Pecans

"Oh my God......Oh my God.........". It was 5am (I was very hungry. Very) and I had a serious case of the OMGs which accompanied every single bite of this chocolate cake (they were leftovers from the day before). It was sheer ecstasy as I savoured this very moist, fudgey, chocolaty and nutty concoction. Many thanks to The Pioneer Woman's The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. 

Note that the cake is dense and moist. Not airy or crumbly, why ah??

My first ever proper chocolate cake was Chocolate Buttermilk Sheet Cake with Ganache Frosting which I adapted from Diana Desserts. The Pioneer Woman's version is slightly different because she brings the butter, cocoa powder and water to a boil before mixing the hot mixture into the flour and sugar. Diana's version merely melts the butter mixture without bringing it to a boil. And there are two additional ingredients i.e. vegetable oil and cinnamon powder.

Boiling butter, cocoa powder and water mixed with flour and sugar. Batter is paste like and I was concerned.

Quite honestly, I found it strange for boiling liquid to be mixed into the flour. But I decided to just follow the recipe and see what happens. Well, what resulted was thick chocolaty paste. After that the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla essence is mixed into the batter. That made the batter very fluid and smooth.

After mixing in the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla resulting in a smooth batter.

The batter is supposed to be baked in a sheet pan but I baked the cake in a 9"x9" pan. My previous experience with a 9"x13" pan was not good. The cake was done in 20 minutes and has a dense and fudgey texture. I compared the Pioneer Woman's Cake with mine and her cake's texture looks more like  a regular cake as it looks crumbly. Mine is looks wet and dense, as if it is still raw although the batter is properly cooked.

Thick clumsy streaks of  ganache. I could have done a nice piping but I am no Eric Lanlard.

Maybe it is because I changed the recipe a bit as I reduced the sugar from 2 cups to 1/2 cup. I could not imagine having 2 cups of flour to 2 cups of sugar as the frosting itself contains a whopping 385g of sugar. That would send me into a permanent diabetic coma. Also since I used self-raising flour, no baking soda is added to the buttermilk mixture. That could have altered the chemistry, hence the difference in texture.

I did not use the Pioneer Woman's evil decadent frosting (in her own words) and chose to use ganache instead. And of course, I used yummy pecans although it costs me a small fortune.

I made the ganache when the cake was just out of the oven and poured it onto the cake while it was still warm. Then I chopped up the pecans and scattered them onto the ganache. Since I had another 125ml of whipped cream, I did not want to keep it and decided to make extra ganache. I drizzled the extra ganache on top of the pecans. It would have looked better if I piped the ganache as I ended up with thick clumsy streaks.

Want?

I would have to say that this is my favourite chocolate cake as it doesn't require use of a mixer and I love the moist fudgey texture. Coupled with the ganache and chopped pecans, it was simply to die for! I would recommend this cake to novice bakers and it is very easy to put together and bake and yet comes out so impressive.

Don't you just want to take a spoon and dig right in? Louiz?

One more thing I need to tell you is that this cake is soft and therefore it is fragile. It tends to break easily and you need to be careful when slicing the cake. It would probably be better to chill the cake before slicing it so that the cake is firm and you will get clean neat cuts. Bring to room temperature before serving if chilled.

If I may say so, this cake has a festive feel to it and would be a delight to serve up for Christmas. And having said that I would like to wish all my friends and readers Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you again in 2014! PH needs to rest :)

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Chopped Pecans

Adapted from : The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients :

For the Cake :

- 250g self-raising flour

- 1/2 cup Muscavado sugar (add more of you prefer a sweeter cake)

- 4 heap tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

- 220g butter

- 1 cup boiling water

- 1/2 cup buttermilk

- 2 whole eggs, beaten

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Ganache :

- 100ml whipping cream

- 100g bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

- 10g butter
Note : I made extra ganache with 125ml of whipping cream and 125g of chocolate just to finish up the whipping cream. I used it as topping on the pecans . It was more than enough and I was left with about 1/4 cup of ganache which you know ended up where :)

For Topping :

- 200g toasted pecans, chopped

Method for cake :

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. Set aside.

2. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa powder and cinnamon powder. Stir together.

3. Add boiling water and allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat.

4. Pour mixture into flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.

5. In a measuring cup, pour buttermilk and add beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir the mixture into the flour mixture. Gently mix until well combined.

6. Pour into a lined 9"x9" pan and bake at 160C for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Method for ganache :
1. Put chocolate and butter in a measuring cup or a bowl and set aside.
2. In a saucepan, boil the whipping cream.
3. Pour boiling whipping cream into the chocolate and butter.
4. Leave it to stand for 5 minutes and then stir until the ganache is thick and shiny.

To assemble :
1. Pour ganache onto the warm cake and tilt the cake pan to spread ganache evenly.
2. Top with the chopped pecans, pressing down gently to ensure nuts stick to the ganache.
3. If you made extra ganache (optional), pipe it onto the nuts for a nice presentation.
4. Slice the cake and enjoy!

I am submitting this post to Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013 hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.