September 3, 2013

Our Forever Chocolate Cake.....

An occasion where I dressed up the cake - she's great for that - eat as is or turn her into a celebration!

Years and years of chocolate cake baking, tweaking, twisting, settling, unsettling and ongoing experimenting finally lead to 'our' cake. Recently I introduced a few twists and the inevitable happened. I wasn't happy. Back to the original. The saying 'once you're on a good thing stick to it', couldn't be more true.

So sorry Brydie and Annee who a few posts back expressed their interest in 'our family' chocolate cake. Unexpected events turned our world around here upside down for a good month or more. Better late than never.



Last Sunday was Father's Day and youngest daughter wanted to show her appreciation for him with 'our family chocolate cake'.  She made a template with a plane and the words 'Happy Father's Day'. The sprinkling with icing sugar wasn't the neatest but the plane turned out okay and that's the most important bit. Why? Well if you follow this blog; you'd know by now that life is never dull round here. Father has bought himself a plane (not a toy - a dinky di real plane); and is currently going through the ropes to get his pilot's license.

Tomorrow he'll be registering his latest project. It's been a few years in the making; mostly due to his ridiculous work load but finally his 'clubman' is complete. A bright yellow open top race car that looks to be a few inches from the ground. Not sure where he'll find the time to drive it; but she's ready.

Changes. Life changes every day and I never know what's around the corner.
One thing that won't be changing though, is our chocolate cake.

Chocolate Cake

200gm caster sugar
90gm salt reduced butter
185mls hot water
2tbsp rich chocolate cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 fresh eggs
150gm SR flour

  • Sift cocoa powder in a small bowl; whisk in hot water till there's no lumps. Pour into medium sized saucepan along with sugar & chopped butter. Melt over low heat till sugar dissolves & mixture begins to bubble; add bicarb; stir till it froths up nicely; take off heat; pour into a large bowl; set aside to cool.  Sometimes I make this step the night before and then complete the cake in the morning. 
  • Allow to cool; I mean cool - not still warm cos I've done it and the texture changes. You may notice a skin has formed upon cooling; don't worry; it's perfectly normal. When cooled, hand whisk in the vanilla essence followed by the beaten eggs till nice and glossy. Sift in flour; whisk briskly for only a minute. 
  • Mixture is quite runny. Pour into greased, bottom baking paper lined 20cm round tin; place into preheated 160-170 degree fan forced oven for 35 - 40 mins or till baked.
  • Sit for 1 minute; slide a knife all around the sides. Upturn onto metal rack; remove paper; allow to cool. 
Icing

  • Put 125gm icing sugar, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 2tspn butter & 1tbsp milk (you may need to add a little more) into ceramic bowl. Place over saucepan with hot simmering water. Mix continuously till the mixture comes together and the icing is nice, thick and pourable. If it's slightly runny, that's fine, just allow to thicken up a little longer before pouring over cake.
  • Place cake onto serving plate. You'll need to move fairly quickly with the icing as it sets pretty fast. Pour directly onto the middle of the cake; use a long knife to swirl over top or to simply push the icing to the edges and allow to set in a rustic fashion. Practise makes perfect.  

I  took this photo 2 days after making the cake.  It's still spectacularly moist. 








27 comments:

  1. Is it crazy that this looks so good I'd like it for breakfast?

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    1. No, not at all Denise! A good strong cup of coffee and it's a real 'kickstarter' for the day - norty but nice - and I know because I've done it.

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  2. Have it for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner. With a glass of milk(only time I drink it) is perfect. We have a recipe very similar to this that my grandma only made. It took my mom many attempts before she could make it like grandma. IF, it lasts a couple of days, it is so much better. My mom would hide the cake from us four kids, just so there would be some left for her. One time I called her at work...pressure from my brothers, and she finally stated she had hid the cake in the dryer.

    Oh the things we do for chocolate!!! LOl
    blessings, jill
    hopped over from Rhonda's

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    1. Hahaha - the dryer! Haven't heard that one before. Bless her chocolate loving heart. I agree - chocolate anytime of the day sounds great to me. Thanks for sharing your chocolate cake story Jill.Mariana x

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    2. The dryer! Ha! She knew her kids wouldn't be spending their time near the dryer. Excellent.

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    3. Denise, mothers can be most enterprising when they need to be. x

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    4. That is such a funny story!! Mum didn't have to hide anything from us five kids. We just knew if she said we weren't allowed to eat it we were dead meat if we did. We always behaved the consequences weren't worth it!

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    5. 'Dead meat' - oh the power of a deadly stare......I know it well Kylie.........I was brought up with it. Would love to know 'the consequences' - tho sounds like you didn't dare venture there - haha! x

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  3. I've just taken the cake out of the oven, so far it looks good and smells divine. It's for our lunch with extended family today, including visitors from Korea, so I'm hoping it turns out well and they all enjoy it. Thanks for the recipe. I'll let you know what we all thought.

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    1. Oooooh rhonda jean - I've all my fingers crossed it turned out for you. Eager to hear your feedback - please be brutally honest - it's the only way I'll really know if I've explained the recipe well or not! Thanks. Mariana x

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    2. Okay, we got a 100% approval rating on this cake. Everyone LOVED it. It's really good. I had a piece this afternoon and it's still very moist. Excellent recipe, the best chocolate icing I've ever tasted and a really deep chocolate flavour. Thanks for sharing your recipe. :- )

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    3. Yay! Yippee! Hooray! Rhonda Jean - you make me feel like dancing! Your comment has made my day; well night actually. I even made Hubby get off the chair to come and read it. He smiled and gave me a little pat on the back. "Looks like the secret is out then". Yep and I'm thrilled to bits. Thanks a mil Rhonda. Mariana x

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  4. I'm going to make this cake for my daughter's first birthday next week, it will be her first taste of chocolate, i wonder if she'll grow up as addicted to good chocolate as her mummy?

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    1. Happy Birthday to your little one next week- oh how special is the first birthday. Hopefully she'll approve of our favourite chocolate cake; and Mummy too. Mariana x

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  5. Right, when to make this little beauty... I'll see if I can squish it in to the weekend.
    Thanks lovely!

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    1. Don't 'squish' Brydie. All in good time - here's hoping she goes well for you (when you do have a crack). Have a good weekend sweetie. Mariana x

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    2. I still need to make it again but this was my first go...
      http://cityhippyfarmgirl.com/2013/10/04/lessons-in-chocolate-cake/
      thanks lovely. xx

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    3. Great first effort Brydie. Prouddyya. Mariana x

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  6. Many thanks for the recipe - yes I can smell it already! Should have time to make it before I go away again. Glad the icing looks manageable for me (not good at icing and often don't bother)

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    1. Your welcome Annee - sounds like time is short. Good Luck - or - you could leave it till you come back. Yes, I love the icing - wait till pourable, dump in the centre; swirl a little and just like lava - let it go where it wants to go. Cheers Mariana

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    2. I should have posted this before - the cake is just the thing when you know someone is coming - and if they don't it's not too much to eat oneself (plus hubby). I've made it several times and it pleases everyone. I have also used the icing on different cakes and getting deft at spreading quickly and even neat over the sides. Many thanks!

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    3. Thanks for letting me know Annee; sounds like you've created a real keeper there with this cake. Wow - maybe you should be giving ME some tips on the icing - hahaha...x Mariana

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  7. Thank you for this terrific recipe!
    Have made no.2 today after the first one being promptly eaten last week.
    The icing is perfect, best result I've ever had.

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    1. Thanks zofia - sounds like you executed the cake perfectly. Well Done. Cheers Mariana.

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  8. So I FINALLY got to give this cake a go - and it was an absolute winner!! It didn't rise as much as I thought it would but it was the most moist cake I have ever eaten. I think next time I might do a double batch and then have it layered. Thanks for sharing this Mariana

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    1. Hi Kylie - I designed this cake more for the keeping factor, the taste and the moisture capability. It's not really a 'high riser'. I have made it double the quantity several times, because it used to disappear so fast that I figured I may as well make a bigger batch. I can tell you that it is likely to 'dome' in the middle quite substantially and perhaps even crack, which is fine for me.

      Beware that this mixture is prone to cracking or doming and is not really a good layer cake, unless of course you were to slice off the top to even it out. Hope this helps dear. xx

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  9. Hi,
    The chocolate cake looks wonderful. Can you please advise what is "rich" cocoa powder? Is it Bourneville?

    Thanks
    Denise

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