from our cocoa kitchen · SURFSTR
Chocolate cake with sour-cream frosting
A two-layer cake with SURFSTR 20–22% Dutch cocoa and chocolate sour-cream frosting. 25 minutes active preparation; 12 slices.
- Active preparation
- 25 min
- Cooking / baking
- 35 min
- Resting / chilling
- 90 min
- Total time
- 150 min
One 20 cm two-layer cake, cut into 12 equal slices. Estimated finished weight: about 1,500 g, or 125 g per slice; weigh the cooled, frosted cake to confirm. Nutrition is per 1/12 of the complete recipe, not per 100 g.
Editorial recipe adaptation. Not yet kitchen-tested. Check ingredient labels for allergens.
02 / bring it together
let’s make it.
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Prepare the tins
Heat the oven to 175°C conventional heat. Line the bases and sides of both tins with baking paper. Bring the eggs and both portions of sour cream towards room temperature while you weigh the ingredients. Keep the 200 g frosting portion separate.
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Mix the dry ingredients
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate into a large bowl. Add both sugars and salt. Whisk thoroughly, breaking up every brown-sugar lump so the raising agents are evenly distributed.
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Make the batter
Whisk in the 100 g beaten egg, 110 g oil and 180 g sour cream just until the dry ingredients disappear. Pour in the 240 g hot water gradually, whisking gently to make a smooth, fluid batter. Scrape the bottom of the bowl; stop once no dry streaks remain. Do not taste raw batter.
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Divide and bake
Divide the batter equally between the two tins: about 630 g per tin before bowl losses. Place them side by side with space for air circulation. Bake for 30–35 minutes, checking at 30 minutes. A skewer in the centre should show a few moist crumbs, without liquid batter. The centre should spring back gently.
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Cool completely
Leave the cakes in their tins for 15 minutes, then carefully turn out, remove the paper and cool on a rack. Allow about 90 minutes cooling in total, or longer if the centres still feel warm. Warm layers will melt the frosting. The stated 150 minutes includes this cooling allowance.
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Make the frosting
While the cakes cool, melt the 200 g chopped chocolate in short microwave bursts, stirring between them, or over barely simmering water without the bowl touching the water. Let it become warm rather than hot. Fold in the separate 200 g room-temperature sour cream in three additions until glossy. Leave at room temperature until it holds soft spreading ridges; this overlaps the cake cooling time.
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Fill and finish
Place one completely cooled layer on a stand. Spread roughly 100 g frosting over it, then position the second layer on top. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides in a thin, even coat. Cut into 12 equal slices. The finished photograph illustrates the intended appearance; this adaptation has not been kitchen-tested.
The recipe in pictures
03 / the numbers
nutrition, clearly.
Calculated estimates, not laboratory measurements. Any per-100-g values use the stated estimated finished weight.
| Energy (kJ) | 1818 |
|---|---|
| Energy (kcal) | 435 |
| Fat (g) | 22.3 |
| Saturates (g) | 8.95 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 50.49 |
| Sugars (g) | 33.9 |
| Fibre (g) | 3.7 |
| Protein (g) | 6.06 |
| Salt (g) | 0.84 |
Calculated estimates, not laboratory results; EU carbohydrate convention, with fibre separate. The full frosting is included. SURFSTR does not publish saturates, sugars or salt: these use a disclosed 21%-fat Dutch-cocoa proxy (Dr. Oetker: 13, 0.6 and 0.08 g per 100 g respectively). Cream values per 100 ml use an estimated density of 1 g/ml. Oil salt is estimated as zero; the source’s anomalous 1 g/100 g would add 0.09 g salt per slice. Product changes alter these figures.
Tips and storage
Use full-fat soured cream, not a thin fermented milk drink. Stir chocolate gently and keep water out of the melting bowl. A different chocolate percentage changes sweetness and frosting firmness as well as nutrition. Coffee may replace the hot water by equal mass for a different flavour, but the calculation here uses water. Cover and refrigerate the frosted cake; a conservative quality target is 2–3 days, subject to ingredient use-by dates and handling. Let a slice soften briefly before serving. For longer storage, freeze the unfrosted layers tightly wrapped and thaw in the refrigerator. No optional toppings are included.
SURFSTR · DUTCH PROCESS
it starts with cocoa.
SURFSTR Dutch-process cocoa contains 20–22% cocoa butter. Use the cocoa specified in the recipe: natural cocoa is not always a direct substitute.
Meet the cocoa