German Mole Cake

Today I want to share a recipe that has been the star of our festive tables for years. This time we'll prepare a German Mole Cake - a simple dessert made out of chocolate sponge, cream filling and bananas. 

Moist chocolate cake if a fantastic base for lightly sweet cream filling. Bananas bring light, natural flavour, while chocolate brings mature notes and contrast to the smooth filling texture. A simple to make cake that will be great for your festive table or a weekend meet-up with friends.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (circular baking tin, 24 cm in diameter)

Chocolate sponge cake

• 120 g cake flour
• 40 g cornstarch
• 40 g dark cocoa
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 6 large eggs
• 150 g sugar
• 75 g vegetable oil

Filling

• 300 g whipping cream
• 250 g mascarpone cheese
• 30 g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste 
• 50 g finely chopped, dark chocolate
• 3 bananas
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Sift 120 g cake flour, 40 g dark cocoa, 40 g cornstarch and 1.5 tsp baking powder through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Stir through them shortly until everything gets evenly distributed, and set aside for a moment.
2. Pour 6 large eggs into a separate large bowl and add 150 g fine white sugar.  Beat the contents of the bowl with an electric mixer until sugar dissolves completely, eggs double in volume and become light-coloured and thick. It's best to beat eggs at room temperature, so remember to take them out of a fridge at least an hour ahead.
3. Once you've got the right texture turn mixer speed down to medium and add 75 g vegetable oil to eggs. Do it slowly, in a thin trickle, while mixing. This way they will combine to create a uniform, lightly shiny emulsion. Once you've added all of fat continue mixing for another 30 seconds.
4. Add dry ingredients to the batter. Do it in three batches, a few tablespoons at a time, and mix them in carefully each time with a silicone spatula. It's important not to overmix the batter and not to remove too much air, so mix it only until you can longer see raw flour. Try to reach the bottom of the bowl as this is where most of flour will gather, and it's easy to miss. 
5. Pour ready batter into a circular baking tin, 24 cm in diameter, and spread it evenly across the surface. The bottom of the baking tin should be lined with baking paper, and the sides should be clean and dry. The cake will stick to them during baking and not deflate while cooling down. 
6. Bake the cake in an oven preheated to 170 deg C, no fan, for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Once the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and set aside in the baking tin to cool completely. An hour or two should be enough.
7. Once the cake is cool, cut it off carefully from he sides of the baking tin and remove baking paper. Transfer the cake onto a worktop and cut off rounded top with a long, serrated knife. This time you'll get an even cake base as well as crumbs to put on top of the cake.
8. Put the offcuts into a bowl and work ont he base. Make a shallow cut in the base, 2-3 cm from the edge, to create a circle roughly 0.5 cm deep. Don't cut too deeply as it's easy to cut all the way through and make a hole in the base.
9. Scoop out the middle of the cake with a teaspoon. Only remove enough cake to make a 0.5 cm deep hole. Put the offcuts together with the top.  Crush the offcuts into crumbs.
10. Prepare cream filling. Pour 300 g cold whipping cream (36%) into a large bowl and add 250 g cold mascarpone cheese, 30 g icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla paste. Beat contents of the bowl with an electric mixer until stiff. Once you've got the right texture, add 50 g finely chopped chocolate into the filling and distribute it evenly with a silicone spatula.
11. Transfer 3 tbsp of cream filling onto the hollowed out base and spread it evenly across the surface. Arrange a few banana halves on top of cream. Spread a bit of lemon juice on top of bananas. Cover bananas with remaining cream filling and spread it across the whole surface. Form a half-round mound from the filling, using a small spatula or a knife. Scatter chocolate sponge crumbs on top of the cake, trying to cover the whole mound. If you need, press the crumbs down lightly to make them stick to the cake.
12. Put ready cake into a fridge for a few hours, or best overnight, until filling sets and all flavours develop.
13. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 359 kcal
• Carbs: 28 g 
• Fat: 26 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Fibre: 1 g

1 slice (recipe makes 16 slices)

• 301 kcal
• Carbs: 23 g 
• Fat: 21 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Fibre: 1 g