Chocolate and Cream Cheese Layer Cake

This recipe combines the best of both worlds - rich and moist chocolate cake, and sweet delicious cream cheese. It was one of the many cakes that my mum used to make for us when we were kids, and one of our favourites too. She made it without the raspberries, and I decided to add them since I had a box of them in the freezer. From the photos, the cheese layer looks much too brown on top, and that's because I didn't cover the pan with baking paper to prevent the cake from over-browning. The other reason may be that I used a dark-coloured cake pan which often results in a darker crust since it absorbs more heat. I'll have to try using a silver-coloured pan next time then, or perhaps reduce the temperature of the oven slightly.

In case you're wondering, this is not a brownie, but a rich, decadent, chocolatey cake that tastes so good with the slightly tangy cream cheese layer. The cake is so moist and tender that it literally melts in your mouth, and, like all things chocolate, will have you in a state of happiness (forget the diet!). The kids enjoyed making this with me too, particularly when I let them lick the batter off the spoon, which came back to me spotlessly clean!

Chocolate and Cream Cheese Layer Cake

Ingredients

180g (3/4 cup) butter, softened

230g (1 cup) caster sugar

2 eggs

35g (5 tbsp) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

140g (1 cup) plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Topping:

250g (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

80g (1/3 cup) caster sugar

1/2 cup raspberries (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Grease and line a 23cm (9 inch) round cake tin.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until well combined. Add in the sifted ingredients and beat on low speed until evenly mixed. Alternatively, you can mix using a spatula. Pour into prepared tin.
4. Place the ingredients for the topping (except raspberries) in a medium bowl and beat until smooth and creamy. Fold in the raspberries. Then, pour it over the top of the cake mixture.
5. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes or until cooked and a skewer inserted comes out clean (If the top of the cake wobbles when you tilt the pan from side to side, it means the chocolate cake layer is not fully cooked yet). Cool the cake on a wire rack before serving.

Note:

If the surface starts to turn light brown before it's cooked (after 35 minutes in the oven), take a piece of baking / parchment paper and place it over the top of the cake tin to avoid it from browning too much.