Sian's chocolate cake

The recipe was given to me by my friend Sian ages ago, and I've made it lots of times since.
It's a lovely moist chocolate cake, which uses oil instead of butter or margarine. It keeps well .


190g plain flour
2 level tbspns cocoa
1 level tspn bicarb
1 level tspn baking powder
150g caster sugar
2 tbspn golden syrup
2  eggs [beaten]
150ml veg. oil
150ml milk

Icing
50g butter or marg
4 level tbpns cocoa [sieved]
3 tbspns milk
150g icing sugar

Preheat oven 160C/gas3/325F

Grease and base-line 2 x20cm sandwich tins.

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl then make a well in the centre and add the oil, eggs, syrup and milk. Beat it well and pour into the sandwich tins. It's a very runny batter.
Bake for 30-35 mins then turn onto a wire rack, remove paper and leave to cool.

Icing - melt the butter or marg in a pan, add the cocoa, stir well, and cook gently for about 1 minute. Then stir in the milk and icing sugar, take off the heat, mix well and leave to thicken, stirring occasionally.
Sandwich the cakes with half the icing and smooth the rest on the top.

I find this too much icing, so I only make half the amount of icing and put it in the middle.

Chocolate cake

 chocolate I fancied doing some baking this afternoon and having found a bar of 70% chocolate in the cupboard, decided to make a chocolate cake.
I tried a recipe from a book I've had for many years, but never used. It's Jane Pettigrew's 'Teatime - a complete collection of traditional recipes'. This is her 'Moist chocolate cake', but to be honest, I prefer my old Victoria sandwich recipe. We both found this cake rather dry, despite its buttercream filling.
If I try it again, I'll use less flour.

                                         

Didn't decide to blog about it till I'd cut us each a slice, and I'd had another one!

The recipe:

100g plain chocolate

150g butter of soft margarine

150g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

15ml [1 tbspn] milk

225g sr flour

Preheat oven 350F/180C/gas 4

Grease and line 2 x18cm [7"] sandwich tins.

Melt the chocolate over water or in a microwave.

Cream the fat and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir the milk into the melted chocolate then add it to the mixture. Beat togther.

Fold in the flour. Mix well.

Pour into tins and bake for about 30 mins [my oven is hot and they were ready in 25mins] Leave to cool in tins and then turn onto a wire rack.

Make the filling:

15g softened butter

50g icing sugar + some for sifting on top

5ml [1 tspn] milk

1 tbspn cocoa powder

Cream the butter and icing sugar together then add the milk and cocoa powder. Beat well.

This amount is fine to sandwich the cakes together. It's half the amount given in the recipe.

You can sieve some icing sugar over the top to finish off the cake.

American chocolate cake

This a recipe I've used before and it's a lovely moist cake and it keeps well too [if there's any left!!].

275g sr flour
3 level tbspns cocoa
175g caster sugar
1 level tspn bicarbonate os soda
300ml milk
150ml corn oil
3 tbspns golden syrup
1/2 tspn vanilla essence

icing:
25g cocoa
3-4 tbspns hot water
25g soft butter
100g icing sugar [sieved]

Preheat oven 180C/gas4/350F
Grease and line 2x20cm sandwich tin or a 20cm springform tin

Sift flour, cocoa a nd sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the middle.
Dissolve the bicarb in 1 tbspn of the milk and then pour into the flour with the rest of the milk, oil, syrup and vanilla essence. Beat well till a smooth batter.
Pour into tin/tins and bake for about 35-40 mins till the cakes spring back when pressed with fingertip.
Turn on wire rack to cool.

Make the icing - put the cocoa in a bowl with the hot water and butter and beat till smooth and butter is blended in. Beat in the icing sugar and then sandwich the cakes together or smooth it over the top of the large cake.

The cake has a lovely texture, moist and dense.

This is my Easter cloth which has had it's annual airing today!