I was first introduced to this delicious cake recipe as a kid, a friend's mom used to make it when we played tennis tournaments... Mom, being mom, made sure we got the recipe and it couldn't be simpler! The best part? it can be frozen and defrosted and iced whenever you're ready! Needless to say this little feature comes in very handy when you have to provide snacks for tennis league every second Saturday...
Esme's Chocolate Cake
750ml Cake Flour
80ml Cocoa
20ml Baking Powder
5ml Bicarb
500ml sugar
pinch of salt
500ml boiling water (I let it cool slightly)
250ml oil (measure this first then the hot water takes the oil out of my measuring cup...)
50ml white vinegar (I have substituted this with whatever vinegar is available many times and haven't been disappointed with the results!)
Mix dry ingredients with a whisk (this is a little trick I learned - it does pretty much the same thing as sifting the dry ingredients as it gets air into the mixture). Add wet ingredients. Mix well.
Pour into a tray pan (I use a glass Pyrex baking dish 15x30cm or so and then serve the cake in the pan)
Bake for 25-30min at 180*C
Ice once cool.
This is a very basic chocolate cake. I jazz it up a little with a really good icing... Any icing will work but this is really special and so easy to make (the ingredients are the silly part)
Dark Chocolate Icing
75g Butter
30ml Cocoa Powder
45ml Buttermilk
5ml Vanilla essence
200g (375ml) icing sugar
Melt the butter and stir in sifted cocoa powder (make sure it's not lumpy!). Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Sift in icing sugar and mix well. Pour over a partially cooled cake. Allow to set before cutting.
