I know there are so many chocolate cake recipies out their but I want the NO1 for a birthday for my handicapped daughter they all LOVE chocolate cake some help plse

I hope someone will help you with a birthday cake recipe . I have a friend wanting a chocolate gateau for a birthday treat .She also loves chocolate cake. Hopefully a member can help us both with chocolate cake recipe and a gateau recipe.

My "go to" chocolate cake is usually Sophie Gray's "Dana's Chocolate cake". Super easy and never lets me down. Lovely and moist too

I've made Dana's cake and it's ok, but THIS is the best chocolate cake ever. It won a contest in UK years ago. People always want another piece.
250g dark chocolate ( not too dark, 62%)
1 tbsp dark strong coffee, or rum
250g Unsalted butter
3 eggs, separated
125 g castor sugar
50g ground almonds
50 g plain flour

Melt these together. cool.
Cream 125 g unsalted butter and castor sugar till creamy and pale. Add 3 egg yolks, one at a time, beat till smooth and creamy.
Stir cooled chocolate into creamed mixture. Stir in ground almonds, 1/4 tsp almond essence. Mix.
Whisk the three egg whites with a pinch of salt till form soft peaks. Fold in a quarter of the egg whites then alternately quarter of the flour, continue like this till combined.
Pour into a greased and floured 20cm, deep cake tin and bake at 180 degrees ( not fan bake) 35 min or till a skewer comes out clean.
Cool slightly then turn out onto rack to cool completely.

Ganache
Melt 125 g chocolate and 30ml rum or strong coffee till melted. Off the heat, beat in 125 g butter a little at a time till smooth and cool.
Ice cake, I decorate with chocolate leaves ( rose or ivy leaves coated with 2 coats of white or dark chocolate and chilled then leaf peeled off.)

Can you replace the ground almonds? What is the purpose of that ingredient?

I generally find chocolate cakes with actual chocolate in them instead of cocoa powder are more flavoursome......they need extra effort though.

I like Annabels chocolate cake if I want a big cake but Graces chocolate cake for family baking. It is in the recipes on food lovers home page. It was the real favorite of my family as it was their Nana's recipe and was a lovely cake.

Almonds are used instead of flour, gnerally for those who can't have wheat. I have never tried to replace it. I have just made this & it is in the oven as I write. I have replaced the flour for cornflour as it is for my family & some are wheat intolerant.

let us know the results.......I am going to try it also, but prob in a few weeks.

Rachael Allen has a real chocolate choc cake which I make quite often. its very nice but is a bit dry.

My "go to" Chocolate Cake recipe is one I have used for about 40 years. It is a Cordon Bleu recipe, Devil's Foodcake. I love baking and regularly take cakes to work; this is probably the most requested cake. It's really moist and never fails. Not sure if I can post the recipe as it is in a recipe book I purchased years ago. I can PM if you would like it.

I have three recipes I make

1. An old NZ Herald recipe. Good for children/parties but probably a little light by todays standards. Ice traditionally with chocolate butter icing. The cake has cocoa but no chocolate.
2. The Annabel Langbein recipe with a hot cup of coffee added. Darker than above, but not with real chocolate in it. I sometimes ice or sometimes use ganache.
3. A Fudgy cake with chocolate. I don't tend to ice this but serve with maybe ganache or cream and berries.

I would today like the bottom one, then the middle, then the top. However my parents and children would probably reverse the order with a preference for the traditional cake as it is not so rich.

I am happy to post or link or PM any of these recipes.

Ground almonds have been used in baking long before the current rise in people eating wheat free diets. Mixing them with flour gives a firmer and denser texture to the cake - I was once told that one reason for adding them is when using large amounts of actual chocolate as flour alone isn't always strong enough to hold the cake up by itself.They also give the cake a lovely moist, squidginess

Cheese Lover, I'd be interested in #3 and the link would be much appreciated. I make Annabel Langbein's chocolate cake (#2) every so often. It's nice but somehow not quite chocolaty for my personal taste. I wonder if it would work adding chocolate chips or buttons to the recipe. Any thoughts on that?

Well I made the cake & it was very moist & went down well. I probably used too large a tin & so it wasn't very high & so I decided to make it again but instead of using the butter in two lots this time I put it all in & so I decided to double the cake it was probably a good mistake as it was a better height for my 25cm tin. Not sure if I liked all the butter in the ganache so would look for another recipe next time but it certainly was moist & flavoursome. I would make it again & using the good dark cake of chocolate chopped up was a good choice.

I hope Fionah that you can clarify your ingredients

You say - melt these ? so is that choc or half the choc, half the butter as only 125g is creamed or is half of choc and butter in your ganache as no extra ingredients given for that

I am not sure which way you mean so hope you see this post

Heather H I found that mistake too & that is why I realised after adding all the butter half was meant for the topping & I suspect same for the chocolate but that worked ok & I used an extra 125g for the topping So halve the butter & you should be fine for the cake,but I did find 125g for the topping was too much & I think instead of butter you can use cream which is what I will do next time because I will make it again as it was lovely. Just make sure your tin isn't too big like mine was as it was very thin but if you read my post you will see I doubled it & it was better. If you did make two larger ones they would look lovely on top of each other for that special occasion. I decorated mine in the middle with a muddled bunch of edible flowers which gave it a pretty colour.

Know this is a bit late but...
Anchor Chocolate Cake:

125 g Anchor Butter, softened
3/4 c Castor Sugar
2 Eggs
1 ts Vanilla Essence
1/2 c Raspberry Jam
1-1/4 c Flour
1 ts Baking Powder
1/2 c Cocoa
1 ts Baking Soda
1 c Milk, warmed
1/2 c Chocolate Chips

Grease & line a 22cm round cake tin. Cream butter & sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla essence & jam. Sift flour, baking powder & cocoa. Dissolve soda in milk. Fold dry ingredients & milk alternately into butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon into tin. Bake at 180C (350F) for 45 minutes. When cold, spread with chocolate icing.

Yes Lyn V I suspect some of the choc is meant to be for ganache but may not be half. I hope Fionah can answer our queries

A 25cm tin is very large for such a small mixture as her 50 g flour not even 1/2 cup but would have thought the double mixt in your 25cm tin may have sunk in middle
Was that quite successful doubling recipe ?

I find ganache made with butter is too rich/fatty for me so always make the usual way with cream and just a little butter for shine

Still hoping Fionah will see this and clarify her first melting ingredients - not actually specified