Ultimate Chocolate Cake

It's been 2 months since I returned to India. It was like returning to the pre historic era. No, dear patriotic Indians, I am not criticizing my country. I am just trying to explain how I spent these months, without Internet-without a connection with the outer world, no blogging, no blog surfing, no nothing. 
Alhamdulillah, we got internet connection last week, which means, it's time to return to blogging :). And I have just the perfect dish to restart my blogging journey- The Ultimate Chocolate Cake. No, this is not one among the zillion  chocolate cakes the you have baked. This is special...very special. The best chocolate cake I have had so far...wait, correction, its was the second-best cake I have had. The best one was the Mocha Bavarian Cake. Nothing can beat it.

Anyway, coming back to the cake, the recipe is from here, by Angela Nilson. My cousin, Nabeel gave me the recipe. He had tasted it at a relative's place and really wanted to prepare it. So we donned our chef hats and began preparing it. The preparation was a breeze. No complicated steps or anything. It was fun preparing with Nabeel too. He wanted everything to be perfect, like, large eggs are large and not the small ones you get in the local grocery shop. We fought at almost every step. But by the time the cake was ready, we had forgotten our differences. The cake was simply perfect. It had an intense chocolate flavor and a strong coffee flavor to balance it.
Definitely a keeper!!

Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces(I used chocolate chips)
200g butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp instant coffee granules, mixed in 125ml water
85g self-raising flour
85g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g granulated sugar
200g light brown sugar
25g cocoa powder
3 eggs
75ml buttermilk


For ganache:
200g dark chocolate, broken to pieces or chocolate chips
284ml double cream(pouring type)
2 tbs brown sugar


Method:
Butter a 20cm round cake tin and line its base.Preheat oven to 140 C.  
Heat the chocolate, butter and coffee in a heavy based pan over low heat, till everything melts. You don't want to overheat it. Alternatively, microwave it till it melts(3-5 minutes), stirring occasionally.
Mix the flours, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa and sugars.
Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the buttermilk.
Beat the egg mixture and chocolate mixture into the flour and mix till well blended.
Pour it into the pan and bake for 1hour and 25-30 minutes. A skewer should come out clean hen poked into the cake and the top should be firm. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Let it cool further on a wire rack.
Once cooled, Cut the cake into 3 layers, horizontally.
To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a bowl. Boil the cream and sugar till it is about to boil. Immediately, pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 30 seconds. Mix till the ganache is well blended. Let it sit for 10 minutes so it cools and thickens. 
Sandwich the cake layers with a little ganache. Pour the remaining on top of the cake and let it fall down the sides.