It’s the second last Birthday Celebrations theme post and what better way to begin to wrap it up than with cake! My Grandmother makes the best Chocolate Cake (if I do say so myself), and I love it not only because it’s delicious to eat, but because even I can cook it consistently well and I am not the best cook! She calls it the ‘international chocolate cake’ because she once lost the recipe and had to call my cousin in America for the recipe! She’s extra awesome, because she’s letting me share it with you! Thanks, Grandma!
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 Cups Plain Flour
- 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
- 2/3 Cup Cocoa
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Bi-Carb Soda
- 1 1/2 Cups Milk (Grandma recommends Full Cream Milk, but I prefer it with No Fat Milk, either works well)
- 4 ounces Margarine
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Essence
How To:
- Preheat Oven to 190ºC (375ºF)
- Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth
- Grease a 9” (23cm) round tin and pour in the mixture
- Bake in the oven for 1 hour
- Remove from the oven and leave it cool on a cake rack
- Add icing (frosting) or icing sugar if you wish. Grandma didn’t give me an icing recipe. This cake goes well with chocolate icing like this one I use. It also tastes great with chocolate ganache.
I love how no-nonsense this cake is. You just throw all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, beat it, pop it in a tin and cook it. I’m not great with fiddly things when I’m not confident so this is a great one when I want to whip up a cake to celebrate just about any occasion. We often have these ingredients already in the pantry so it also makes a great “just because” cake.
When it comes to finishing the cake you could add some icing (frosting), add some ganache, dust with icing sugar or even just leave it plain. It’s one of those cakes that has a great flavour (I think) on it’s own, so the icing is just to dress it up. My skills in icing a cake are somewhat lacking, but as long as it tastes good people are usually happy!
This gets served at a lot of our family gatherings and was once bought my my cousin at a cake stall/bake sale because she knew that she would like it! haha We don’t have too many recipes that get shared around, but this is one. Enjoy!
Do you have a family recipe that’s shared around? What’s your family specialty?
If you do try this, I’d love to see a photo or hear about how it went! Tweet me your pics at: @danniellecresp or instagram me at: @dannielle with the hashtag: #styleforahappyhome