Baking Traditional Chocolate Cake

The recipe can be found at: www.nigella.com/recipes/view/old-fashioned-chocolate-cake-119

As I only had 25cm tins I made 1 1/2 this recipe. I also couldn't find sour cream at our local shop, so I used half milk and half double cream.

The genius of this recipe is that all you have to do is measure everything out, put it in a blender and mix until smooth-fantastically simple.

It makes a gorgeously rich and smooth mixture that makes you want to lick the bowl clean!

Spoon this mixture into 2 tins and bake as directed. I found that the cakes cooked slightly too quickly (going brown on top while still runny inside) so I turned the oven down slightly.

The cakes came out really well. Considering that I'd messed around with the recipe, I was pleasantly surprised. They were moist and smelled amazing.

I bought a piping bag this morning so I wanted to try and decorate the cake in a simple but better way that usual. I have absolutely no icing skills but I thought that simple swirls would be manageable! I made a simple butter icing but made it rich and chocolatey by replacing some of the icing sugar for cocoa and adding a small drizzle of cream. 1/3 went in the middle of the cake and most of the rest of the icing was spread on top using a palette knife. Then I had a good go at decorating the top with swirls and actually it wasn't too difficult! It looked more professional than I thought and was quite simple. Finally, I added a tiny amount of edible glitter - for no other reason than I fancied making it girly!

Taste Test! 


Well, I couldn't have hoped that it'd taste as good as my Mum's cake. But I tell you what, it came a good second! I highly recommend this recipe. It is simple and fantastic, especially if you don't have much time. I suspect that it is reliable too, as it came out so well even after I had messed around with the ingredients. 




My friends agree, this is a winner - simple, sumptuous and all round sensational! You need this cake in your life!

  

Happy Mothers Day Everyone!