Simple Chocolate Tort

  • I have called this simple as it is very easy to make.
  • Rubbing in the butter into the flour and then just mixing.
  • I adapted the recipe from an English BeRo cook book.
  • You can adapt it with lots of different fillings and glazes.
  • Here I used a milk chocolate icing using hot milk.
  • You could double the ingredients and make a 4 layer torte
  • or use a larger diameter tin – not tested.
  • *
  • The cake recipe is one I used for Chocolate Babka and for Chocolate Orange Tort

Chocolate Cake – Ingredients

  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 225g caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 100g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons of evaporated milk
  • 5 tablespoons of water

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm tins.
  • Rub the butter into the flour.
  • Add the baking powder, salt, cocoa and sugar
  • Mix well together.
  • Mix the eggs, milk and water together.
  • Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients.
  • Beat well.
  • Divide the mixture between the 2 tins.
  • Smooth the tops level.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  • Allow to cool completely before assembling. 

Milk Chocolate Icing – Ingredients

  • 60g butter
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa
  • 3 tablespoons of hot milk*
  • 2 -3 drops vanilla essence 
  • Around 250g icing sugar**

Milk Chocolate Icing – Method

  • Melt the butter gently in a saucepan.
  • Blend in the cocoa.
  • Add the vanilla essence.
  • Add the icing sugar and hot milk bit by bit.
  • Use a small hand whisk to beat the icing until it is smooth and thick.
  • *
  • * Heat a little more milk and then measure out the amount of milk you need.
  • ** You need to adjust the milk and icing sugar to get the required thickness you need.

Assembling the Cake

  • Place one round of cake onto a serving plate or stand.
  • Spread half the icing over the cake.
  • Place the second round of the cake on top.
  • Press down a little.
  • Spread the rest of the icing on the top of the cake.
  • Smooth or make a pattern with a fork or small spatula.

One of my many glass cake stands.

Chocolate Orange Tort

  • This is a chocolate cake with orange butter cream.
  • I adapted a chocolate cake recipe from a BeRo cook book.
  • Use a chocolate or chocolate orange glaze on the top.
  • You could double the ingredients – use bigger diameter tins or make a 4 layer tort.

Chocolate Cake – Ingredients

  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 225g caster sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 100g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 tablespoons of evaporated milk
  • 5 tablespoons of water
  • Grated rind of 1 orange* 
  • * save the juice for later

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Grease and line the base of 2 x 20cm tins.
  • Rub the butter into the flour.
  • Add the baking powder, salt, cocoa and sugar
  • Mix well together.
  • Mix the eggs, milk, water and orange rind together.
  • Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients.
  • Beat well.
  • Divide the mixture between the 2 tins.
  • Smooth the tops level.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  • Allow to cool completely before assembling. 

Orange Butter Cream – Ingredients

  • 100g butter (unsalted is best)
  • 200g icing sugar
  • Grated rind of 1 orange
  • 3 tablespoon of orange juice

Orange Butter Cream – Method

  • Cream the butter and icing sugar.
  • Add the rind and juice and mix well.

Chocolate Glaze

  • Melt 80g of dark chocolate (or dark chocolate with orange) with 40g of butter in a bowl over hot water.
  • You could add grated orange rind to the dark chocolate. 
  • You would need to use another orange and will have some juice left.

Assembling the Cake

  • Place one round of cake onto a serving plate.
  • Spoon half of the orange juice over the top of the cake.
  • Spread the orange butter cream over the cake.
  • Place the second round of the cake on top.
  • Spoon the rest of the orange juice over the top of the cake.
  • Leave for a few minutes.
  • Make the chocolate glaze.
  • Spread the chocolate glaze over the top of the cake.