Chocolate Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

How could anyone say no to moist devilish delight? I never say no to something which has cocoa or chocolate in it, so this is what I tried and given the fact that this cake dissappeared in no time, I can call it a success. 

There will be two parts to this cake (the batter and the frosting). They can be done simultaneously if you are lucky like me and have the weather on your side (winter -> balcony -> everything cooled in no time). 

Or you can make one part one day and the second part the next day, that is up to you. The frosting takes some time to cool and the baked cake must cool down as well so it doesn't matter which part you make first.

Frosting (I measured everything with the heavy cream cup which holds 200ml):

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1,5 cup heavy cream
• 1,3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup mascarpone

Batter:

• 2 cup plain flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 table spoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup very soft butter (a little more than room temperature, or completely melted)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs

1) Let's bake the cake first. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2) If you need to, microwave the butter or melt it somehow and put it in a bowl. Some people sift cocoa powder and sugar and flour but I never do that because it all blends together well so I just put everything in one bowl and then use hand mixer to get smooth batter.

3) Pour the batter into a cake pan. Mine is 28cm in diameter. Since I only have one, I pour all the batter in it and bake it for 50-60 minutes. Some people divide the batter into two pans so that they don't have to cut the cake in half later. The baking time in such cases then decreases to about 40 minutes (just use the good old toothpick technique to guide you).

4) While the cake is baking, you can prepare the frosting. Take 0,5 cup of heavy cream and bring it to a boil. Then pour it over the cocoa powder and mix till smooth. When it cools down a little, add the rest of the heavy cream (1 cup) and sugar and again stir till well-blended. Let it cool down real well (about 1 hour on my balcony, probably more in the fridge).

5) The cake should be done, so let it cool down as well. A couple of hours will do.

6) When the frosting is very cold, you can add mascarpone and mix it with your hand mixer for a couple of minutes - till soft peaks form.

7) Cut the cake carefully in half and use a half of the frosting to spread it in the middle of your cake and the other half on the top. 

I added chocolate shavings to the top of the cake, but you can decorate it with whatever you like.  The cake will last a couple of days and it will be still moist in the middle (thanks to the buttermilk) but I can assure you once you give a slice to someone they will be back for more and it won't survive long :-)=