Chocolate Cake Recipe

I discovered a new talent...I can make a mean chocolate cake. I made this cake this past Monday and my mom and I ate the last 3 slices last night. 

I had to use my phone camera because I haven't gotten around to replacing my camera's batteries...

Mm-Mm-Mm Chocolate Cake with Chocolate-Strawberry Frosting

CHOCOLATE CAKE

½ Cup Sugar

1 Cup Drinking Chocolate

1 ¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour

1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Milk

½ Cup Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

1 Cup Boiling Water

2 Teaspoons vanilla essence

1.       Preheat Oven

2.       Mix the dry ingredients. I went with sugar then flour then drinking chocolate then baking powder, baking soda and salt. It’s SO important to add the salt, it gives it an extra oomph and makes the flavor come out. Then stir them all together till everything looks light brown, i.e. the flour and drinking chocolate totally mixed up.

3.       Mix the wet ingredients except for the boiling water. I did, milk, and then eggs, then vegetable oil and the vanilla essence. I just beat it with a fork till the eggs mixed in.

4.       Pour in the wet ingredients over the top of the dry. I used my hand mixer on the highest power (my mixer’s broken, and the only power that works is the highest, but it served its purpose) On a normal mixer, I’d do about Power Medium. Mix it for about 3 minutes, then add your boiling water and mix it for about a minute. It should be pretty runny, don’t freak out, if it’s the consistency of just a little thicker than hot cocoa, you’re fine.

5.       Grease and flour your baking pan. I used margarine and corn flour. Probably a little too much margarine because I didn’t want it to stick, but this is to your judgment. The flour didn’t really help much, but it’s what bakers do, so I did it.

6.       Bake it for 30-35 minutes or until a butter knife through the middle of it comes out clean.

7.       Don’t freak out and open your oven if you peek in and see it sort of bubbling over, that’s how it goes because of the consistency. It will settle back down.

8.       Don’t freak out if its soft to the touch/spongy, that’s good. It means you have a moist cake. But again, this is to your discretion, if it’s TOO soft, it might not be done so do the knife test.

9.       Once done, take it out and let it cool for about 20 minutes.

10.   Turn it over onto a rack and let it cool for another hour.

11.   Cut in half horizontally, and carefully, because it’s so soft, you might break it, turn the top half over onto a plate

12.   Generously pour the icing over the bottom half of the cake and smooth over. If you have strawberries, you’d add thin slices here too.

13.   Replace the top half and frost all over with the strawberry chocolate filling. Again, you can decorate with sliced strawberries and make it look pretty and save this from being totally unhealthy with that little burst of vitamin C. ( JTihihi)

14.   Put in the fridge to set for about an hour, or again, to your discretion, until it sets.

15.   Serve with love. Garnished with strawberries.

NB. You might want to trace knife lines of about 12 slices just to give people an idea of what each serving size should be. The new, healthy me, recommends 1 thin slice per person.

STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE FILLING

Drinking Chocolate

2 Teaspoons Strawberry Essence

Water

1.       Put the drinking chocolate (as much as you think you’ll need) I used about ¾ cup into a small mixing bowl.

2.       Add the 2 teaspoons vanilla essence and mix until incorporated

3.       Add water until consistency is thick, but smooth enough to be spread.