This chocolate savarin covered in chocolate syrup is a delicious yeasted cake to enjoy for dessert anytime!
What is a savarin
A savarin is a yeast cake baked in a savarin mould, often a decorative ring shape, and soaked typically in rum or kirsch syrup.
The syrup gives the cake moisture as typically it will be quite dry after baking.
It was invented by French pâtissiers and was most likely inspired by the rum baba or baba au rhum which is another yeast cake soaked in rum.
Cakes are usually baked using baking powder to leaven so yeast cakes are quite unusual.
But there are various European yeasted cakes which are popular such as babka, savarins and kugelhopf.
Recipe inspiration
This is my latest Great British Bake-Off bake-along post, following last week’s episode on European Cakes.
The bakers last week made yeast-leavened cakes like babka, savarins and Kugelhopfs, followed by Swedish princess cake and then a show stopper based on the Hungarian Dobos torte which involves many layers of sponge and lots of caramel decoration.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make for my European cake but luckily I bought a French baking book when I was in France on holiday recently, called Viennoiseries et Brioches.
A quick leaf through and I found a recipe for “petits savarins chocolat-espresso” and decided to adapt my bake for chocolate savarin from this recipe.
I have a bundt/savarin tin that I was going to use in place of the small savarin moulds used in the recipe.
I decided to adapt the recipe and drench the cake in chocolate syrup, since my family would like that better than the coffee syrup used in the book.
This is both a European cake and a yeast-leavened cake as featured in the show. Chetna and Martha both made savarins that looked amazing last week.
Ingredients
These are the ingredients you’ll need, as a handy list for shopping. Check the recipe card at the bottom for the quantities you will need.
- plain flour
- cocoa powder
- yeast
- light brown sugar
- salt
- eggs
- butter
- golden syrup
- water
Step by step
- Mix the yeast in with the lukewarm water.
- Put the flour and cocoa powder in the bowl of your stand mixer and add the sugar and salt around the sides. Pour the water and yeast, and the eggs into a well in the centre of the flour mixture.
- Mix using your K attachment until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rise for half an hour.
- Add the cooled melted butter to your mixer bowl and mix until it is incorporated into the dough. Continue to mix until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Place the dough in the prepared tin (butter and flour it so the cake comes out easily).
- Cover the tin with a tea towel again and leave it to rise for an hour until doubled in size.
- Preheat your oven to 180°C and bake for around 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the chocolate syrup. Mix the sugar, cocoa powder and hot water in a saucepan until smooth. Add the golden syrup and heat gently to bring it slowly to the boil. Boil for one minute.
- Then remove it from the heat and allow the syrup to cool. It will thicken up as it cools.
- Once the cake is golden brown and firm, remove it from the oven and turn it out of the tin to cool.
- Allow the cake to cool completely so it is stable, then reheat for a few minutes in a warm oven, drench in the chocolate syrup, and serve warm. Delicious!
Serving
To serve, place the chocolate savarin in a deep pie dish to catch the syrup, after warming it for a few minutes in a hot oven, drench the cake in the chocolate syrup, and serve warm. Delicious!
Everyone is bound to love this cake, what better could there be than chocolate cake drowned in chocolate sauce?
Just check out how delicious this looks. Perfect for dessert with cream on the side as well!
More to try
If you have caught the bug for GBBO (Great British Baking Show for US readers) then why not try:
Recipe
Chocolate savarin drenched in chocolate syrup
Ingredients
- 270 g plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 7 g dried yeast 1 packet
- 80 ml lukewarm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 20 g light brown sugar
- 2 medium eggs beaten
- 100 g butter melted and cooled
For the syrup:
- 70 g light brown sugar
- 180 ml boiling water
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 145 g golden syrup
Equipment
Instructions
- Mix the yeast in with the lukewarm water. Put the flour and cocoa powder in the bowl of your stand mixer and add the sugar and salt around the sides. Pour the water and yeast and the eggs into a well in the centre of the flour mixture.270 g plain flour (all-purpose flour), 20 g cocoa powder, 7 g dried yeast, 80 ml lukewarm water, 1 tsp salt, 20 g light brown sugar, 2 medium eggs
- Mix using your K attachment until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rise for half an hour.
- Add the cooled melted butter to your mixer bowl and mix until it is incorporated into the dough. Continue to mix until dough is smooth and elastic.100 g butter
- Place the dough in the prepared tin (butter and flour it so the cake comes out easily).
- Cover the tin with a tea towel again and leave it to rise for an hour until doubled in size.
- Preheat your oven to 180℃ / 350℉ and bake for around 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the chocolate syrup. Mix the sugar, cocoa powder and hot water in a saucepan until smooth. Add the golden syrup and heat gently to bring it slowly to the boil. Boil for one minute.70 g light brown sugar, 180 ml boiling water, 3 tbsp cocoa powder, 145 g golden syrup
- Then remove it from the heat and allow the syrup to cool. It will thicken up as it cools.
- Once the cake is golden brown and firm, remove it from the oven and turn it out of the tin to cool.
- Allow the cake to cool completely so it is stable, then reheat for a few minutes in a warm oven, drench in the chocolate syrup, and serve warm. Delicious!
Helen at Casa Costello says
Ooh not enough cakes have their own supply of syrup! Fabulous bake. Thanks so much for joining in with #Bakeoftheweek again x
Lucy @SupergoldenBakes says
Have never made a savarin or even tasted one. But I love yeasted cakes so this is definitely one to try soon. I might try it with coffee (I love coffee) but hide it from the kids – they are hyper enough! Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare
Stacey Guilliatt says
This looks so blinking tasty!! #greatbloggersbakeoff2014
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
Oh WOW!!!! This looks amazing and sounds so delicious x #RecipeoftheWeek
bakingqueen74 says
Thanks Kirsty, was lovely with the syrup on top, which made it a bit different to normal cake!
Jenny Paulin says
wow that looks immense and sounds soooo lovely and chocolately. ! love how much it rose in the tin after the final proove! bet it tasted sooo good
thanks for linking up x
bakingqueen74 says
Thanks Jenny, I’ll be back again this week! Loving #GreatBloggersBakeoff2014
Alison says
This looks gorgeous. I really need to get a tin shaped like this to give these a try
bakingqueen74 says
Thanks for dropping in Alison!