Baking Experiments: Super Easy Chocolate Cake!


As you're probably all aware, Friday was D's bday. We both had to work and I had to run errands at my parents' place and then we ended up with tickets to Cold Cave, so dinner like I had planned, didn't really happen. D doesn't ever care about birthdays, but to me they're such a big deal! Everything has to be great and exciting on your birthday! And even though we were in such a hurry I couldn't NOT do anything remotely special for my boy. So in turn I decided to make a super quick and easy chocolate cake. I would've done the Choco-Flan my boy loves so much, but our kitchen is so small and I'm lacking some necessary kitchen tools for it. Choco-Flan another day, you guys!

I'm a big believer of using what you have and if sometimes you can substitute some things in a recipe for something you actually have, i'm all for it. Whatever if it doesn't taste EXACTLY as the recipe tells you its supposed to. That's the whole point of cooking/baking, it's all a science experiment that you get to eat in the end.

Super Easy Chocolate Cake recipe adapted from the great foodess.

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups of sugar (I used brown, that's just my preference, but you can use white granulated sugar)
  • 3/4 cups cocoa powder (preferably unsweetened, but I had to go and make it extra sweet and rich and used Godiva Dark Chocolate cocoa)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup of almond milk (you could use any kind of milk, we just don't ever have milk anymore unless it's almond or coconut, we're lactose intolerant. sad face.)
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract
  • a medium bowl of fresh strawberries
  • a small bowl of chocolates (optional...could be anything you like, I chose godiva gems for this one)
With the frosting there's a lot of leeway. Some people like heavy frosting, I don't. I suggest you just start with some basics, and taste as you go. Everyone's got different tastes!
Start with:
  • 1/2 cup of softened butter
  • 2/3 cup of cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 cup and 3/4 cup of confectioner's sugar (you can put more if you want, depends how sugary you want the frosting)
Instructions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, milk, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
  3. Grease and flour baking pan (you could also do this as step 2 and set aside, it doesn't really matter)
  4. Pour batter evenly in baking pan. This is something I learned from my mom when she used to bake cakes on the side: do not use a knife, or spoon, or spatula or anything to even out the batter on the pan. If you must just tilt the pan until the batter settles in where you want it. I don't remember exactly why this is important, but i've always done it and when has my mother been wrong when it comes to baking? haha.

    bake in oven for about 35 minutes. I use the 35 minute mark to check the cake with a skewer stick (lol), if there is cake stuff sticking to it, it's not ready. All ovens are different, so 35 minutes might work amazing for some, and for others 35 minutes is a good time to check it. For my oven it takes 45 minutes.
  5. This is VERY important....let the cake cool off COMPLETELY before handling. I was under a time constraint because D was going to come home and I was trying to finish the cake before he did, so I ignored my own very important advice and my cake cracked a little. But if this happens you can handle it from there, it shouldn't be a big deal. Nothing some frosting can't cover up! ;)
  6. Once the cake has cooled completely, take some thread, about 3-4 strands, obviously longer than the cake sides, and slice the cake in half. You can also use a cake leveler if you are fancy and have one ;)
  7. Then, with a cake lifter separate the top of the cake from the bottom
  8. Now the strawberries come in!

    Thinly slice them and layer them on top of the bottom cake layer
  9. If you are adding chocolates, break them apart or slice them if you need to and add on top of the strawberries
  10. Then using the cake lifter move the top cake layer onto the bottom cake layer
  11. Now put all the ingredients for the frosting in a large bowl and mix until you get the consistency and taste that you want. I personally don't like heavy frosting, or the kind that's fudgey and gets all over the place. I like when it hardens a little after being in the refrigerator. So for easier handling, after i'm done with the frosting batter, I like to put it in the fridge for a few minutes (4-5) so the frosting can harden a little making it a little bit easier to manage. When it's in a good working shape, just use a spatula and smother your cake in frosting.
and there you go. a super easy simple chocolate cake! 

This cake came out so chocolatey inside (probably all the godiva) that it is best when paired with a glass of milk. Almond milk, in our case. hahaha. I feel like this recipe is great because it's not fancy at all and you don't need lots of time for it. 

2 comments:

  1. It looks yummy and really tasty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! It's super easy to make too which makes it all the better!

      Delete