Creamed butter and sugar
It was such a busy weekend for cooking in other ways that I realised I had nothing in the baking tins for hungry tummies, so I thought that it was the perfect opportunity to make the chocolate cake recipe on page 49.
One thing that puts me off some recipes when I’m not really in the mood to bake is anything that involves creaming butter and sugar. I think the reason is that it’s just one more thing that has to be done.
This recipe calls for creaming the butter and sugar to begin with groans. A lot of people seem to struggle to know what butter and sugar should look like when it has been creamed. When creamed the mixture should be light and fluffy and when you rub a small amount between you thumb and forefinger you shouldn’t be able to feel any sugar crystals.
Place mix in a lined greased pan.
Combined mixture
The rest of the recipe is very straight forward and results in a very light mixture. The cooking time is around 45-50 minutes and it is important that once it has baked it is left in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out. That time gives the cake time to consolidate and also means it is less likely to break when turned out.
This cake does feel very fragile when it is removed. Don’t leave the cake to completely cool in the tin because then it is very likely that it will stick to the pan even if it is well greased.
Cracks sometimes happen. Nothing a little icing wont fix.
The finished cake
The finished cake is a moderately dark colour and has what I would call a mild chocolate flavour. It has a very crumbly texture without being too dense. I don’t think it would store very well so would be best eaten on the day you make it. Overall this isn’t a bad cake recipe but it’s not blowing anyone’s mind any time soon either. I iced the cake with the chocolate icing recipe on page 82. It’s a quick icing recipe and a nice consistency so is easy to work with when icing the cake. It sets to a soft buffed finished.
As I have said this is an “okay” chocolate cake, but if you would like to try a cake that is a bit richer and is beautifully moist here is my recipe. If you don’t like coffee I beg you to trust me and to try this recipe anyway. I know we don’t really have a relationship yet but consider this the cooking version of the leaning back for me to catch you trust exercise. I have two people in my life that loathe coffee and even taste it when it’s in other cakes but they honestly don’t taste it at all in this recipe. At. All. The coffee helps to bring out the richness of the chocolate and you really won’t regret trying it. Also this cake keeps for days because it is so moist (if sticky fingers don’t get to it first!) I hope you enjoyed today’s blog and thank you so much for becoming part of this journey. Please feel free to say Hi in the comments below.
Until next time, happy cooking 🙂