Chocolate and Miso cake
Sorry…miso?!
Yes, a chocolate and miso cake. And the reason miso works so incredibly well is because it adds umami. That wonderful savoury deliciousness that makes the cocoa taste even richer and darker without being overpowering and bitter. It also helps balance out the sweetness, kinda like when you add sea salt to caramel. I’m calling it now, this is the next salted caramel, mark my words.
Some people like to add a little a shot of coffee to their chocolate cakes or even a splash of Guinness, but I recommend testing out a bit of miso. I promise it won’t taste like broth and I’ll expect feedback. Have you been swayed? Is this now the best chocolate cake you’ve ever had?!
What miso to use?
White miso is milder and has a little sweetness, pairing well with desserts really. However, red or darker miso can be stronger and could potentially leave you with a bit of a funkier taste. If you want to experiment with adding a little to your baking, start small until you hit the perfect balance. If we can accept courgette and beetroot brownies, we can accept and embrace this.
More desserts please
For more puddings, pastries, desserts and more, visit my page here. Every meal in the Poppy Cooks household ends with a little sweet treat, and so should yours. If you’d like to see me make anything else, simply drop me a DM and I’ll add to my ever-expanding recipe list.
Chocolate and Miso cake
By Poppy Cooks
https://www.poppycooks.com/recipes/chocolate-and-miso-cake/
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 180g softened butter
- 180g caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 125g self raising flour
- 60g cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- Chocolate, to garnish
Metric
Imperial
For the cream cheese icing
- 200g full fat cream cheese
- 2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150g icing sugar
- 2 tsp white miso paste
- Pinch of salt
Metric
Imperial
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160ºc fan/180ºc/320ºf. Grease and line an 8 inch cake tin - I like to use a loose bottom or springform tin for ease, but a normal one is fine!
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment if you have one (if not, you can just do this with a wooden spoon or electric hand beater), chuck in the softened butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, around 4 minutes. While it's beating, sieve together the cocoa powder, flour and salt.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and begin to add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. If the mix starts to look a bit lumpy or split, chuck in a spoonful of the sifted flour and cocoa.
- Beat in the vanilla extract with the final egg before folding through the remaining flour and cocoa mix. Scoop all of the mixture into the tin and flatten it out.
- Pop the sponge into the oven for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then pop it out of the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- While the cake is cooling, make the icing. Simply beat together all of the ingredients for the icing until light and fluffy. When the cake is completely cool, slather your delicious cream cheese icing over the top and finely grate over lots of dark chocolate before slicing.