Michelle Darmody: How to bake the ultimate chocolate traybake for large groups

This cake is a birthday classic

This cake is ideal for birthday cakes, and can be stacked on top of itself without collapsing

It is birthday season in our family and I am always asked to make cakes of various sizes and in various complicated shapes.

This year hedgehogs have ruled supreme and have involved many finger biscuits stuck into the icing and a cute little face fashioned out of fondant.

I find I need a good solid traybake for any cake like this. One that can be cut up and stacked on top of itself without collapsing, but is not so dense that it puts little diners off. It also has to taste good on its own, so the extra pieces can be served alongside the cake.

Feeding cake to large groups is an age-old tradition in Ireland and around the world. It is amazing how many cultures use sweet food, like cake, to come together and share a moment that is of importance to them.

Where some countries use the day to honour the mother, for all of her hard work many years earlier, most focus on the birthday person at hand.

The candles that we blow out are for good wishes but also signify light in the year ahead and a celebration of the life being lived.

Birthday Chocolate Traybake

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Traditionally, in Ireland, birthday cakes would have contained dried fruit embedded within a dense sponge or sweet bread base. Now we serve up cakes of all flavours with chocolate being a firm favourite.

Servings

20

Preparation Time

 35 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the cake

• 8 eggs, separated

• 380g golden caster sugar

• 400g soft butter

• 400g self-raising flour

• 4 tbs cocoa powder, sieved

• 2 tsp baking powder, sieved

• 4 tbs milk

• To decorate

• 150g dark chocolate, melted

• 300g soft butter

• 600g icing sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla

Method

1. Line a 10x10-inch square cake tin with parchment.

2. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

3. Add half of the sugar to the egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks form, set this aside.

4. Add the other half of the sugar to the butter and whisk until light and fluffy.

5. Sieve the flour with the cocoa and baking powder.

6. Mix the egg yolks with the milk

7. Add the egg mixture to the whisked butter until combined.

8. Add in the flour until combined.

9. Fold in the egg whites.

10. Scoop the mixture into the prepared tin and flatten the top with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

11. Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

12. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

13. To make the icing whisk the ingredients until smooth and until the mixture has lightened in colour.

14. Ice the traybake in whatever way you choose. You can coat the top and sides before slicing into squares or create a shaped cake to be used at the centre of a birthday celebration.

When lining a tin of this size, I find using butter to help stick the paper to the inside of the tin is helpful. It is worth leaving some parchment paper sticking out from the edges of the tin so that it can be used to remove the cake after baking. You can gently pull on the parchment paper to lift out the cake.

The quality of the cocoa powder makes quite a difference in this cake. It is the only chocolate in the sponge, so it is worth searching for one that has a high cocoa butter content.

It is best to have all of the ingredients at room temperature to ensure they combine well and easily.

When folding in, I usually add a third of the egg white mixture first and combine it gently, then add the rest once this is done. You do not need to preserve every air bubble but a gentle fold is advisable. To fold, slice down through the batter then lift the mixture up from the bottom, rotating around the bowl until combined. I find a rubber spatula works best.

To get the best rise from your egg whites, ensure you use a clean bowl and whisk. You can add the sugar gradually after the eggs have reached the soft peak stage. Whisking the egg whites like this ensures a lighter cake.

If the cake is not baked through after 45 minutes, bake in five-minute intervals until a skewer comes out clean. If you are worried about the top browning, you can cover the cake with tin foil for the last few minutes.

Using a wire rack to cool a cake of this size is particularly important. It allows the air to circulate underneath the cake and prevent the base from getting soggy. If it is left in the tin, condensation will form on the base and sides of the tin and soak into the cake making it less stable for cutting and stacking, if that is what you would like to do with it.

As with most cakes, I turn them upside down to ice them as the underside is usually much smoother and flatter than the top which will have risen a little unevenly.

You can freeze this cake uniced, either in slices or whole if you have the freezer space.

Delicious variations

Chocolate and coffee cake

I could eat a cake coated in coffee buttercream all day. I love it on any plain sponge or on a chocolate cake. It changes this cake considerably and would be better for an adult birthday rather than for a child. Whisk 250g of soft butter with 440g of icing sugar and 30mls of very strong but cold espresso coffee. Whisk until light and fluffy.

Chocolate orange cake

This classic combination is good for birthdays of all ages. Add orange zest from four oranges to the batter and then make a deliciously orangey chocolate icing as well. Whisk 600g of icing sugar with 300g of soft butter, zest of two oranges, and 50g of cocoa powder.