Chocolate Star Bread
This chocolate star bread is a twist on a classic sponge cake. It has a delicate crumb and a lightly crisp outer edge. This recipe is a tea time super STAR, loaded up with whipped cream and richly flavoured fruit jam.
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Ok I get it, you are looking at a picture of a beautiful chocolate sponge cake yet it is called a star bread. No it’s not a mistake.
This recipe gets its name from my youngest child. When I first made this recipe I made it as a slab cake around this time last year. We chopped it into thin fingers and spread over jam and cream like you would do for scones. My son broke bits of them apart and arranged them on his plate in a star shape and declared that he made star bread.
The name stuck and now here we have star bread and I can not bring myself to give this recipe any other name.
Chocolate star bread can be made and eaten in a little over 1 hour and is best served warm. Because of that this recipe makes for the absolute best “oh no I forgot/destroyed the birthday cake” cake. With 20 minutes of hands on time, 30 minutes in the oven and 10 of rest time. Once you turn it out you can fill it with jam, top it off with whipped cream and serve immediately. This recipe is perfect for late notice visitors, busy lives and those days where you want something beautiful and a little bit fancy but you also kind of want it now.
Chocolate Star Bread Ingredients
All of the ingredients will most likely already be in your pantry/ fridge. I love a pantry staple recipe and this definitely one of those for me.
Eggs – Use large fresh eggs. Make sure they separate cleanly if the yolk breaks into the whites then your egg whites will not stiffen when you whisk them.
Butter – I always use salted butter but you can use unsalted if you prefer.
Cocoa – Use a good quality cocoa powder if you have it. Otherwise any cocoa powder will do the job.
Cream – You should use a heavy whipping cream for this recipe. It gives the cake a good richness. You could substitute for coconut cream if you are dairy free.
Milk – Plain full or low fat milk both work fine here. If you are dairy free then you can absolutely swap out for your favourite non dairy milk.
Sugar – Plain white granulated sugar.
Flour – Use plain white all purpose flour.
Baking powder – Regular baking powder.
Ingredients
Method
- Grease a bundt tin with a little bit of melted butter. Dust the tin with a little extra flour or cocoa. Turn the tin upside down and tap on the bottom to remove any excess.
- Preheat your oven to 160 degrees fan bake (or 180 degrees regular bake)
- Separate your egg whites from the yolks. Place the egg whites into a large bowl and the egg yolks into a small bowl or mug and set aside.
- Add the milk into your small bowl with the egg yolks and whisk with a fork to combine.
- In a medium sized saucepan, place together the butter, cocoa, cream and 1/3 cup of the sugar.
- Heat the chocolate mixture on low and stir slowly until everything has melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Add your egg yolk and milk mixture to your chocolate mixture and mix in well.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring constantly for about 1 minute. The chocolate mixture should be smooth, and glossy. Remove your saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
- While that cools, take your bowl of egg whites that you prepared earlier and add in the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar. Using an electric beater, whisk well until the egg whites have formed stiff peaks and the sugar has fully dissolved. This should take about 5 minutes.
- Add the flour and baking powder to the chocolate mixture and mix until it is just combined.
- Next take 1/3 of the whipped egg whites and add it into your chocolate cake base that is in the saucepan. Mix well.
- Place all of your chocolate mixture into your bowl with the remaining egg whites. Gently fold the two together until it is well combined and an even colour overall.
- Spoon the batter into your prepared bundt tin. Gently spread it out evenly
- Bake for 30 minutes or until just baked through.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes to allow it to release from the pan slightly.
- Turn out onto a serving dish or chopping board. Slice through the middle using a serrated knife to make a top and bottom ring.
- Serve warm with some berry jam and whipped cream
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my chocolate star bread recipe. I hope you enjoy trying this out for yourself. Please feel free to add any questions or comments below. I am happy to help out wherever possible and I would love to hear how this recipe worked out for you.
Crystal Rose
