Chocolate layer cake with strawberry jam filling – simply good

Many times in life, I see that the simple things are the best. Jeans and tee’s are the best kind of clothes. A plain loaf of bread is one of the best food. This chocolate layer cake with strawberry jam filling is also a simple but very good cake. Who doesn’t like the combination of chocolate and strawberry jam anyway?

Actually, the recipe called for cherry jam, but I had some left-over strawberry jam, which was my elder son’s favorite, so I used strawberry jam instead, and it was a hit.

Recipe – adapted from the book “500 cakes – the only cake compendium you’ll ever need” by Susannah Blake (I got this book thanks to a good friend):

Ingredients:

- 113g butter, room temperature.

- 93g caster sugar.

- 2 eggs.

- 93g self-raising flour.

- 2 TBSP (12g) unsweetened cocoa powder.

- ½ tsp vanilla extract.

- strawberry jam.

Method:

1. Preheat over to 180oC (350oF). Grease two 16-cm round cake tins and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Sift the flour and cocoa together and set aside.

2. With the mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla.

3. Fold in the flour mixture with a silicone spatula.

4. Divide the batter equally into 2 tins and spread out evenly.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. 

6. Reverse one cake (so the flat bottom looks up) and spread strawberry jam (or any kind of jam or cream you like) over the cake. Top with the second cake. Dust with cocoa powder if you like.

With simple ingredients, I got a delicious cake with warm cocoa aroma. It’s not as “heavy” as a pound cake, so I could eat a very big piece.

I’m submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #7 – Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted.