International Chocolate Cake Day's ultimate dish: Chocolate cake donuts

If there was ever a day to allow yourself an overindulgence in chocolate cake, surely International Chocolate Cake Day is it.

Chocolate cake came in to being in 1764 when Dr. James Baker discovered how to make chocolate by grinding cocoa beans between circular millstones. Later, in 1879, a process known as conching was developed by Rodolphe Lindt which made it easier to bake with chocolate and blend it with cake batters.

January 27 has since been dubbed Chocolate Cake Day. This year, to celebrate, we asked the team at Scratch Bakery to concoct a sweet treat combining chocolate cake with their famed donuts. The result: A chocolate cake donut.

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CAKE DONUTS

Andy McGregor with the finished product. Photo / Bailee Wilson-Yates

Executive chef Andy McGregor took us through the steps to create this epic mash up.

Donut dough

• Ingredients

125ml Cream
125ml Milk
650gm Bakers flour
25gm Fresh yeast
50gm Castor sugar
75gm Butter (softened)
2eggs
10gm Salt
Canola oil (for deep frying)

• Method

Rolling the dough into donuts. Photo / Bailee Wilson-Yates

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, in a large mixing bowl mix until incorporated
2. Whisk milk, cream, yeast and eggs together
3. Add liquids to dry ingredients and mix until dough starts to form
4. Add softened butter to dough and kneed for approx. 6 minutes or until smooth dough is achieved, cover with cling film
5. Rest for 20 minutes
6. Scale dough evenly or weigh at 100gm per donut
7. Prove on a well-greased tray until doubled in size
8. Heat oil to 180◦C and fry donuts for 3 minutes on each side
9. Drain and cool on a cake rack

Frying the donuts. Photo / Bailee Wilson-Yates

Chocolate cake filling

• Ingredients

250gm Mascarpone
200gm Good quality chocolate cake
100gm Dark bitter chocolate

• Method

1. Melt chocolate over Baine Marie (cool slightly)
2. Crumble chocolate cake and fold into mascarpone
3. Fold melted chocolate into mascarpone filling
4. Set aside in fridge until needed

Chocolate glaze

Ingredients

10gm Gelatine leaves (bloom in cold water)
210gm Castor sugar
110ml water
65gm Cocoa
65ml Cream
50gm Dark bitter chocolate

• Method

1. Bring water, sugar, cocoa and cream to the boil, whisk to insure mix is smooth
2. Whisk chocolate and gelatine in off the heat, pass and cool

Assembly

Putting it all together. Photo / Bailee Wilson-Yates

1. Make a hole on the side of each donut with your finger
2. Pipe chocolate cake filling into the hole
3. Dip each donut into the chocolate glaze covering the top half of each, shake off excess glaze
4. Garnish the tops of the donuts with a cube of fresh chocolate cake and an edible flower