This cake is the best chocolate cake you will make at home: deep and dark but so eatable. It stays really moist, slices well, is dense but not too filling and works great with fruit coulis (raspberry or pear especially), ice creams, espumas or by itself. I know the ingredients list looks long and weird, but making it is really easy and it's really worth it. For anyone that's tried Nigella's Chocolate Coke Cake (also well worth a shot) it's similar in crumb and look to that. Thanks to my stepmum for the recipe and to Papa for helping when it became the base for the best Poires Belle-Helene ever.
kitchen music: The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony.
- 260g plain flour
- 290g caster sugar
- 110g dark cocoa powder
- 1 heaped tsp baking powder
- 1 heaped tsp bicarb
- a good pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs
- 240ml evaporated milk
- 2tsp vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste
- 120ml vegetable oil
- 250ml boiling water
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- Preheat the oven to 180ºc and line a large cake tin (if it isn't non-stick) with greaseproof/baking paper (it works well in pretty much any tin).
- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb and salt into a big mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla and oil. Stir into the dry ingredients but don't use a whisk because the mix gets too thick. It will look and feel way too thick now, but don't worry. Beat it until you get a paste that's as lump-free as you can make it.
- Add the boiling water bit by bit, mixing to incorporate it all before adding more. When the mix is liquid enough to mix well, beat to make sure there aren't any lumps in it. Add the rest of the water and stir to get a smooth, glossy batter.
- Pour into your tin and bake for around 35-45 minutes. If you're used to touching a cake to feel when it's cooked, use a skewer the first couple of times until you get the hang of the way this one feels. Let it cool in the tin, then remove and take the greaseproof off. From here, either slice and fill with creams, mousses or Swiss meringue, cut and serve with coulis, take discs to use as bases for marquise or ice cream terrines, or just serve as it is with a dredge of icing sugar. Enjoy!
kitchen music: The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony.