Hi everyone! It's been a while since I last posted a recipe here. I was just too busy to cook anything new, or let alone take pictures of the foods I was cooking, until a few weeks ago. A young woman, who is now 25 years old, who I used to take care of when she was a baby, came to visit me. And all these years we have kept in touch, and it was extra special to have her come and visit me.
There is a story why I chose to bake this cake. When I was no longer her baby sitter, I used to still go and visit her and her brother during their birthday month, yes, their birthdays are a few days apart, and I would bring a chocolate cake for them that I baked. We would put icing on it together and decorate it with fruits that they had at home.
A few months before she decided to come and visit, I was looking through my photo albums and I came across a picture of us three, with a cake in front of us. I took a picture of that photo and sent it to both of them. She then said that she can still remember the taste, and that it was the best cake she has ever had in her entire life! Now, I am not so sure about that, but of course it touched my old heart that she 'remembered' the taste. A few weeks after that convo, she decided to come and visit. :-)
Well, here is my effort to recreate her childhood chocolate cake, and it was fun baking it knowing that it would bring back childhood memories for her. Of course my decorating abilities are far from professional, but it was made with lots of love, so I think that should make up for any artistic points, don't you agree?
Let's take a look at the ingredients then:
1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, (or for a smoother cake, you can use 2 and 1/3 cups cake flour)
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup water (boiling)
For the icing:
1 pack 8 oz cream cheese
2/3 cups confectioner's sugar (icing sugar)
about 2/3 of 1 pack unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
lemon or orange zest (just grate a lemon or orange skin for a citrusy tang) (optional)
First, gather your ingredients. It is always easier and faster to bake when you have all your ingredients ready. I baked a few hours before she arrived because I had to pick her up from the airport.
Pre-heat your oven at 180 degrees Celcius. If you are in other parts of the world, that would be 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour two 9-inch baking pans. It can also help to line the bottoms with parchment paper.
To line it with parchment paper, cut a piece big enough to cover the pan, fold it into half, and then fold the half into another half to make a quarter, and then fold the quarter into three. Put the tip in the center and cut the edges off according to the size of the pan. When you're than with that, we're ready to roll.
In a large mixing bowl, run the cake flour through a sieve. Do the same with the cocoa powder. This is just to make the cake smoother. Then stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt, until everything is blended.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, and whisk to combine. When everything is blended, whisk in the boiling water as well.
Now add the wet ingredients into the dry bowl and stir well until combined.
Pour batter into your prepared pans and then put pans in the preheated oven.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a crumb or two attached. Start checking at 27 minutes because it's better to check too soon than to over bake, and then your cake becomes too dry. Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes before attempting to take them out of the pans. Cool for at least an hour before putting on the icing.
While waiting for the cake to cool, you can prepare your frosting. I for one do not like sweet frosting, so I chose cream cheese frosting instead of chocolate. Please make sure that both your butter and cream cheese should be on room temperature for easier beating. So just put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, beat with an electric mixer for a minute or two until it becomes creamy.
When the cakes are cool, with a spatula, start spreading the frosting on one cake. When the top is done, put the other cake on top of it and do the same. You can obviously see that my efforts do not look professional at all. It is just good enough for home decorating, ha ha.
And there you have it! I tried my best to decorate it with her childhood picture in mind, so I also cut grapes to finish it. When she arrived, she was so pleased, she took a picture of it to send it to her mom, saying that a cake was waiting for her, along with another dish she requested, which I will also share here next!
This was quite easy to make, so I'm sure you'll also do fine if you'd like to try it at home. You can start making memories too!
When she went back home, she posted a very sweet photo on her Instagram account that made me cry. What she did was put a picture of us we took when she was still a child, and another picture we took together on her visit. She captioned it with this:Year 2000 vs 2018 'When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall. After all these years, thank you for having me this time of year. #cantwaittocomeback #missthefoodalready
Need I say more? Nah. That says it all. For more recipes like this, you can go this page.
PS: Make sure that your baking powder and baking soda are no more than six months old. If they are older than that, you should replace them as they lose their potency quickly and your cake won't rise properly.
This recipe calls for boiling water because it helps bloom the cocoa powder, giving the cake a deeper chocolate flavor.
When you put the frosting, you may want to cut off the top of the first cake to make it flat for the top layer, otherwise, you can leave it as it is. Enjoy baking!
Comments
Post a Comment