Cocoa Sour Cream Cake | Matilda

The cook disappeared. Almost at once she was back again staggering under the weight of an enormous round chocolate cake on a china platter. The cake was fully eighteen inches in diameter and it was covered with dark-brown chocolate icing.
Matilda
Roald Dahl

I think for any young girl that was a big reader, there is no character more-so than Matilda that was easy to identify with. I would re-read Matilda over and over - along with adoring the movie version (which was honestly so perfect). A few years back even, I had the chance to go see the stage production of Matilda also, which was slightly disappointing - you don't think you'll see yourself cheering for the sort of awful parents quite so much.

This cake isn't quite the monstrosity that Bruce Bogtrotter is forced to eat within the story - I do not own cake tins of that size, and my salary won't quite support the cost of making a cake that big - but three layers of chocolate cake with the tang of sour cream to bring it all together, is a good enough representation for me. Also - just cover it all with chocolate flakes if you're really craving that insane chocolate hit.

Note: I used Tofutti sour cream for this! Worked super well.

Cocoa Sour Cream Cake
Ingredients
Cake
1 cup sour cream *see note
2 1/3 cups plain flour
2 cups golden caster sugar
180 ml non-dairy milk (it’s fine to substitute dairy milk if needed)
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp oil
2/3 cup good quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb soda
400g butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
Frosting
100g vegetable shortening, softened
90g dark chocolate
90g butter
1/3 cup sour cream
1tsp vanilla
4 cups icing sugar
Dark chocolate flakes for decoration, optional

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 180C and prepare three 8” round cake pans by greasing and line with baking paper.

2. Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar together to form buttermilk and leave to the side until curdled.

3. Add in the oil and vanilla to the buttermilk mix and leave to the side.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer (can be done by hand, just a bit harder), combine all the dry ingredients and the butter, mixing until it is crumbly and resembles damp sand.

5. Gradually add in the milk mixture and combine thoroughly.

6. Pour the cake mix evenly into the three prepared pans and bake for 25- 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

7. Leave cakes in the pans to cool for about five minutes before removing them from the pans and leaving them on a cake rack to cool completely. They will need to be completely cooled before you can frost them.

Frosting

1. Heat a saucepan of water until boiling; place a metal or glass bowl on top with the chocolate in it until melted and smooth.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the shortening and butter and mix until light and fluffy.

3. Add in the sour cream and vanilla and melted chocolate and combine.

4. Add in the icing sugar one cup at a time, mixing until the chocolate butter cream is smooth and creamy.

5. Sandwich the layers of cake together with the frosting and then cover the outside as best you can. I tend to use a flat spatula and pop the cake plate on top of an empty bowl so it’s easier to turn and get a good covering.

6. Enjoy large slices with a scoop of ice-cream or Bruce style – eat the entire thing in one go with your hands.