Jean's Chocolate Cake

 

All that crafting and stitching, phew, it really takes it out of me. I need cake. 

I'm a bit odd in that I don't really like chocolate cake that much. It's sad, I know. I'm coming to terms with it. Especially not the really rich, chocolatey sort. I find them bitter and dry and bit cloying. But this cake is not overly chocolatey, just chocolatey enough. 

Jean, my mother-in-law, gave me this recipe recently. I tasted her cake and pestered her shamelessly until she kindly wrote it out for me. The original recipe is pictured above; it was given to her by a colleague many years ago and I love the way it is stained with years of use. I do love it when a recipe comes with some history and a bit of a story. The use of oil rather than butter makes for a very moist cake and the separation of the eggs makes it extra light and fluffy. My icing is just a buttercream with some cocoa and nutella added but if you wanted a frosting more, well, chocolatey, you could make something really rich with some melted dark chocolate, maybe more of a ganache.

You need:

For the cake...

140 grams or 5 oz self raising flour

140 grams or 5 oz sugar

30 grams or 1 oz cocoa 

2 tsps baking powder

100 ml or 3.5 fl oz oil (sunflower or vegetable)

100 ml or 3.5 fl oz water

3 eggs

for the icing...

300 grams or 10 oz icing sugar

100 grams or 3 oz butter

3 tbsp milk

1 tbsp chocolate and hazelnut spread

To make:

• Pre-heat the oven to 160°C or 320°F.
• Grease and line the bases of two 7" or 8" round baking tins.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking powder. I used the mixer but you could do this by hand.
• Separate the eggs.
• Mix together the oil, water and egg yolks and add to the dry mixture above, mixing well.
• Whisk the egg whites until peaked.
• Add the egg whites to the mixture. I took the bowl from the mixer at this point and folded them in by hand.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
• Ice the cake when it is cool (otherwise the icing melts a bit, as I discovered. Greedy old me.)

These cake calories are allowed as tomorrow I am running a 10k race. I am starting to get a little nervous and have that butterfly tummy feeling, the kind you get before an exam. Wish me luck! After the race I plan to lounge on the sofa, crochet and eat mince pies. This will last until New Years Day, then I will get on the scales, go into shock, then go on a diet. That's my usual Christmas routine and I'm sticking to it.