Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake
This makes a delightful big chocolate cake. Perfect for slicing up and enjoying for afternoon tea! Mixing the cocoa powder with boiling water helps to make the cocoa ‘bloom’ and intensify the flavour. This is a Kitchen Aid recipe – I have halved their quantities for the fluffy fudgy icing however as found it made too much. This makes enough to cover the top of the cake (I didn’t feel the need to cut the cake in half and fill the middle – see photos).
Ingredients:
- ½ cup (55g) dark baking cocoa
- 100ml boiling water
- 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1¼ cups (280g) caster sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups self-raising
- 1 rounded tablespoon plum jam
Fluffy Fudgy Icing:
2 cups (200g) icing sugar
1/4 (27g) cup cocoa
50g unsalted butter, softened
50ml milk, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 20cm cake pan with baking paper.
- In a bowl, pour about half the boiling water into the cocoa powder and mix to form a paste. Then stir in the remaining water, and leave to one side.
- Place the butter into the mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, beat for 20 seconds. Then add the sugar and vanilla and increase speed, beating for another 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Add the flour, cocoa mixture and jam. Beat for 30 seconds or until mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until firm. If the centre of the cake is still moist, cover with a sheet of foil, attaching it to the sides of the pan and cook the cake for an extra 6 minutes – to allow the centre to steam through.
- Stand for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
- Allow to cool completely before icing the top and sides of the cake.
For the icing:
- In a bowl, beat the butter with a stand mixer or electric mixer for a minute or until creamy.
- Add about half of the icing sugar and mix again to combine.
- Add the milk, vanilla and remaining sugar and beat again for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.
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Made on The Cafe, Monday 16 November 2020