Father's Day

It's Father's Day, and well chocoholic husband equals chocolate cake to celebrate obviously! I myself would prefer a rich, dense brownie, but not my Hubby. He likes his chocolate light and fluffy, with lots of icing. He is really pretty easy to please, I can't complain. Baking this cake was really easy. The most challenging part was fending off the two year old who was desperately trying to help, and wanted only to 'taste it' every two second. Definitely makes it a memorable experience.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate cake: (From Feast by Nigella)

Cake: (Sorry everything is in weights as opposed to cups. I do have kitchen scale I use religiously so I have never bothered to measure anything from the Nigella cookbooks out)

• 200g plain flour
• 100g sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 40g cocoa
• 175g soft unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 150ml sour cream (or plain yogurt - I ran out of sour cream half way to mixed the two together)

Pre-heat oven to 355F, and grease two cake pans. She suggested two 20 cm sandwich tins with a removable base - that I do not own, so I used two square pans.


Most simple way to make this cake is to put all ingredients into a food processor and process until the batter is thick and smooth. Otherwise beat butter until creamy, and then add cocoa, sour cream, vanilla and eggs. Mix flour sugar and leavening agents together and then mix everything together. I highly recommend the food process, it makes it so easy! Divide batter in half using a spatula and spread into prepared cake pans. Baking time is approximately 35 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Mine only baked for around 22 minutes.


Remove cakes from oven and let cool in their tins on wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn tins upside down and place directly on rack and continue to cool. Mine didn't come out perfect at all, there were some cracks, but nothing a little patch job with the icing couldn't fix :)

Icing:

• 75g unsalted butter
• 175 dark chocolate
• 300g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp corn syrup
  
• 125ml sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla

Melt the chocolate and butter in large bowl, either in microwave (the easy way) or over pan of hot water on stove.

Add the syrup to the melted, and cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla, and finally sifted icing sugar.

Depending on the consistence of the icing you may need to add slightly more icing sugar or else a small amount of boiling water to achieve the right viscosity of icing. It should be liquid enough to coat the cake, but thick enough not to run off.


Choose cake stand or plate for the cake, and line edge with strips of parchment paper to stop the icing running from onto plate. Place one of cakes on the plate and spoon 1/3 of icing onto it's top, and spread. Place the second cake on top and gently press together. Spoon another 1/3 of icing on to the top of this cake and again spread using a swirl pattern. Finally spread sides of cake with remaining icing. Remove paper and volia!


Hubby's comment: "Now that is a cake!"