Moist Chocolate Cake
When deciding on a bake project, I tend to gravitate towards chocolate. It just has that feel-good taste that all treats should and as a baking ingredient it is the king of comfort foods. Unlike last week's pastry recipe, I was more limited for time this week so I needed to think up something which required minimal ingredients (all of which I already had in my kitchen cupboards) and minimal making time. This one certainly delivers on all of those areas!
This cake is surprisingly light and deliciously moist, even the next day, due to the use of olive oil as a substitute for milk. Aesthetically, this piece of chocolate heaven needs little dressing up and looks great laid out onto simple a white plate or cake stand. I chose to slice and serve after it had cooled (due to the photo shoot) but this cake would make a divine desert warm from the oven with some vanilla pod ice cream or custard.
Ingredients:
75g high quality cocoa powder
125ml boiling water
2 tsp vanilla extract
125g plain flour
1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
200g caster sugar
150ml olive oil
3 eggs
Icing sugar (to dust top)
1x 23cm cake tin
How to make:
Preheat the oven to 170oc / gas mark 3 and Grease the baking tin.
Sift the cocoa powder into a small jug and add the boiling water, along with the vanilla extract. Stir until you have a medium thick syrup.
In a bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and add to this the sugar, olive oil and eggs. Mix together until you have a smooth creamy texture. Then add the cocoa mixture, and again, mix until smooth.
Pour the chocolatey mixture into the baking tin and cook for approximately 35 minutes. Once cooled, lightly dust the surface of the cake with icing sugar to finish. Yes that really is all you need to do folks!
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| All images / Mike Ahern |
