Once upon a time I made this recipe from one of my favourite books, CWA Classics, and had to google Brandavino. That then led me to write a post on brandavino and now if you google ‘what is brandavino’ you’ll find my post. I really had no idea what it was. A few years later and I still love this chocolate cake recipe and it’s my never fail/feed a crowd or big hungry family. I made this as my dad was popping over on his way home and I thought chocolate cake would be perfect. Well we ate 2/3 of the cake before he arrived and I almost had to write a note and put it on the cake so that we had some cake left for our afternoon guest.
You don’t need a thermomix to make this recipe you can just mix all of the ingredients together with a good old spoon. And the great thing about this cake is that it all goes in and gets mixed at the same time so there is no order of ingredients. We substituted the flour for gluten free and it still turned out beautifully. I use cointreau or sherry in my cake and it adds a little something to it and just 1 tablespoon of coffee because while it’s my energy source no one else in the family appreciates it.
I hope you enjoy this cake. It’s beautiful iced but just as beautiful warm out of the oven with a cup of something nice and warm. Enjoy. And tell me what you think. This always turns out beautifully and look at the sides of the cake when I peeled back the paper. Can you believe this is a delicious gluten free chocolate cake? It just looks so light and delicious.
Oh and a note on the raw sugar. When I bought my thermomix that is how I started all of my recipes, with raw sugar. Now the recipes and the recipe chip don’t seem to start that way but I love only buying raw sugar and not 50 million different types of sugar. OK well except for brown sugar. So I start my recipe with raw sugar and process it for 10 seconds to get caster sugar. If you would rather have caster sugar then just omit the first step in you thermomix. Too easy.
- 2 cups /400g raw sugar (or caster)
- 2 cups /300g self raising flour
- 2 Tbs cocoa
- 1-2 Tbs instant coffee
- 4 eggs
- 180g melted butter
- ½ cup sherry/brandy/spirit of your choice
- Place raw sugar in thermomix and process 10 seconds speed 9 and set aside
- Melt butter - I have to confess I still use my microwave out of habit! But in the spirit of using the thermomix and because sometimes I do melt my butter in there. You can melt the butter for 2 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 2.
- Add in remaining ingredients and process for 60 seconds on speed 4. Half way through you want to scrape down the sides of the bowl
- You can make this gluten free by using a gluten free flour (if using a cup for cup substitute like White Wings or Woolworths Macro)
- **Pour the mixture into a lined square or round cake tin and bake in a preheated 180 degrees oven for about 40-45 minutes or until a knife or skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes then remove and leave on a rack.
- If you don't have a thermomix all you need to do is combine all of the ingredients and mix well and follow from **
Oooo this looks delicious Corrie & I love a cake that you can just throw all the ingredients in & go! Keeps it simple & fast. I actually just posted a recipe on my blog tonight for a super easy banana cake…made it last week & it was scrumptious, my hungry fam were through it in 2 sittings
Always enjoy a new, but tried & tested recipe, thanks for sharing xo
you can’t beat banana bread! always gets eaten here and no one ever complains!
now I meant to message you about the carers allowance and I will
Corrie:)
I’m pulling this out of the oven in a few minutes! Love a quick and easy recipe, as soon as I saw this I went straight to the kitchen to make it! I popped in some ginger beer instead of spirits, we’ll see how it goes, had a quick peek before and it looks good.
mmm I was wondering what would make a good substitute for it! let me know how it tastes!
corrie:)
It’s delicious! Absolutely going to become my new go-to chocolate cake recipe. X