Everyone has a chocolate cake recipe and it can be just that easy because isn’t it a universal truth that everyone loves chocolate cake? It is also surprising to see how many people whose first cake was a chocolate one.
My first cake was chocolate something universal
It is true.
I made my first cake when I was 8 years old I think it was. It could have been 9, but definitely one or the other. It was a proud moment. I was given the recipe by my mum and I made it by myself.
When the cake came out of the oven, well we knew something was wrong because it was flat. Turns out I had used plain flour instead of self-raising. When it was cut you could see a marbled effect of black and brown. No idea why that happened, however, we did still eat it.
While it was the first chocolate cake I made, it certainly wasn’t the last. In the almost 50 years since that first one, I can’t tell you how many I have made since.
Looking back at chocolate cake
So the post I did yesterday was all leading to today’s post and me making another chocolate cake. Initially, I was going to make one from a book I got as a child, but then I remembered The Woman’s Book and thought, there has to be a chocolate cake recipe in it.
There was.
The recipe
The recipe is written with measurements that we no longer use in Australia, we are all metric, so I had to convert them. I am going to write it out here for you.
Chocolate Cake
114 grams Chocolate
85 grams butter
114 g castor sugar
3 eggs
85 g flour
1/2 teas baking powder
The method you can read from the image.
I used dark chocolate for this recipe. It didn’t state which to use, but it seemed the most logical.
There is vanilla essence in the image, but I didn’t realise until later that I didn’t need it.
Making the cake
This recipe was written before electric mixes and that sort of thing, so I did make some changes. Basically I used my KitchenAid to make the cake. Also, I used the microwave to melt the chocolate.
The recipe is a bit strange in that I have never seen one before where you separated the eggs and then whipped the whites to be mixed in later. I tried to follow the recipe as it was, here are some photos from it.
Baking the cake
There were no instructions on what size pan to use to bake this, so I had to make a guess. I also had no idea what it would look like when it was baked. Would it rise a lot? That sort of thing.
In the end, I used a pan I had that I have used for cakes before.
Turns out it was too big.
The finished cake
It was strange watching it bake. I had the oven on 160 C for a fan forced oven. That seemed like the right temperature. As it baked it looked like the cake was melting. It turned very running.
The recipe said to bake for 15 minutes, but it was still runny so I left it in for another 5 or so minutes before taking it out.
The big hole surrounded by crakes is where I tested it first and a big runny bit came out with the skewer.
Once it was cooked it was removed.
The cake cooked
Thankfully it did cook and it could be eaten if it was a little flat. Seems to be a theme around here.
It actually tasted really good as well. The dark chocolate really came out. I’ve never tasted a cake like it. It was like eating chocolate. I can imagine if you used a really good quality chocolate it would taste even better.
It did need something else and in the end, I made some chocolate icing and put it on top. Perhaps more chocolate might have been better as well.
The one thing I would have done really differently would have been to choose a much smaller tin to cook it in. I think mine was 25 cm or 10 inch tin. Perhaps a 20cm would have been better. I have also wondered if it would have been better to double it and then cook two separate cakes with a filling.
Would I make it again?
Possibly not, but it was an interesting experiment. I hope to do more of these. Not just from that book, but from others I have, plus a whole heap of women’s magazines I have from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Could be a lot of fun. We won’t just look at the cooking though.
It is interesting to see how things have changed, or not, as the case is sometimes.
Have you ever tried baking something from many years ago? Do you have a chocolate cake recipe you absolutely love? When did you bake your first cake?
Photos
All the images were taken with my Fujifilm X-T3 and the 16-55mm lens. I was also using my mate Bucky to hold the camera. Bucky is my new tripod from 3 Legged Thing. It is the most versatile tripod I have ever owned. I can do a blog post on it if you would like.
Mmmm, delicious! There are so many great chocolate cake recipes and everyone has their favourite.
There really are, I think every baker or home baker has their own. Thank you Carol.
Looking at the recipe it does say to fill small tins so I think that is why the 15 minutes wasn’t enough – more cup cakes. With real chocolate and that number of eggs sounds like very lush cake. Looks delicious.
The chocolate cake I make is just a Victoria Sandwich type cake with added cocoa (sandwiched with butter icing and melted chocolate on the top) and I always use two shallow tins. I have found when I try to use a deeper tin that I don’t get a very satisfactory result but not sure why.
Yeah, I think I missed that bit. Haha. I might have to try it again another time. It was great, but not really rich, which was nice.
Most of the chocolate cakes I make use cocoa too. First time I have seen one without. I have never made a Victoria sponge, I must try it one day. Thank you RJ
A Victoria sponge is just a normal equal amounts of fat, sugar and flour cake with same weight of eggs and jam in the middle and sprinkle of icing sugar on the top. Nothing special but good if you want something that is quick and easy.
I’ve heard of a Victoria sponge, seems to be very English, which is strange that it isn’t big here, since we have always seemed to go everything the English way, well we did. We have sponges, but from what I can tell they are different to that. I might have to do a post on it one day. What do you think?
Calling a Victoria sponge a sponge is really a misnomer as, as far as I understand it, ‘sponge’ cakes strictly speaking don’t contain fat only flour, sugar and egg. Always interested though to see the difference to how things are where you live and I love posts about baking.
Yes,that is where I was getting confused. Our sponges are very eggy, you beat the eggs and sugar a lot. They are also very light and fluffy. I am going to have to make one now. lol
I am so glad to hear you like the ones about baking, I’m planning a lot more.
Wow
Thank you.
I was surprised you used chocolate chips instead of unsweetened baking chocolate. 😊 My cake pans are 8-1/4″.
When I was a teenager boxed cakes came into being. My mom said these are better than I could bake. So we never had a scratch cake again.
A few years ago cake mixes cut the amount of mix in the box. The cakes were pathetic so I tried to make my own from scratch. I got a good yellow cake but never got a satisfactory chocolate. A bit ago after hearing my story a friend gave me a recipe for extending cake mixes to their normal size. I am not a cake maker any longer and haven’t used the recipe. My friend who had used it assured me it worked just fine.
Yeah, same Lena, I thought the chocolate was unusual. I used packet cake mixes too, but I always thought they tasted differently. We used them when we were in a hurry, but always preferred to make cakes from scratch.
You know what you mentioned about the cake mixes, I reckon the same has been happening with toilet rolls. Same price, but so much smaller than they used to be. Thank you Lena.
Oh, for sure scratch tastes better. I am enjoying your foodie blog. It’s sorta like Julie and Julia. 😊
Oh thank you Lena, it has been fun branching out. I will do other posts on other things, but I am enjoying the food ones. 😀
I’m feeling quite hungry now. One thing about older books – the CWA Cookbook used to contain a recipe for quandong jam – I doubt the latest edition doe – which is a pity.
Haha, sorry all the cake is gone now. I have one of those somewhere, but I don’t think it is old. I think you might be right, I must look in this book to see if it is in there. I don’t even know what it is. Thank you Ted.
I love the photos of real food: not the substitute that you see in so much of “food photography”
And yes, chocolate cake is universal, although I know a few people who live in a different universe 🙂
Thank you, glad you enjoyed them. I know exactly what you mean about the universe, I often thing the same.
Excellent, Leanne! Thank you!
You’re welcome Fabio, and thank you too.