2012 Cooking Club Week 44: Everyday Chocolate Cake

biddywiddy

This is a tried and tested recipe for a simple cake that's really chocolatey (you'll need a lot of cocoa!), but it's very straightforward and none of the ingredients are particularly fancy (hence the 'everyday'). You can find the original recipe on Smitten Kitchen. I always make it in a loaf tin, but if you prefer to use a square or round tin, you'll need to adjust the cooking time.


You'll Need:

1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened (I usually use salted butter, and reduce the 1/4 tsp salt down to a pinch)
1 cup, firmly packed (220g) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (110g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (200g) all-purpose (plain) flour
3/4 cup (75g) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Start by preheating the oven to 160C. Grease and flour a 9x5x3 in loaf tin.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, first cream the butter until smooth and really soft. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat well, then the buttermilk and vanilla.

At this point, it will look like a terrible, curdled mess:



This is normal.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together right into your wet ingredients.



Stir together with a spoon until well-blended but do not overmix.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth it out, right into the corners.



Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool it in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on the wire rack.

biddywiddy

This cake is really chocolatey and moist. It slices well, and keeps well for a few days covered at room temperature.





I hope some of you give this recipe a try. Let me know how you get on!

The Black Oil

Moar cake...what are you trying to do with us? :pac:

Looks good.

confusticated

Finally made this last night, used a slightly smaller tin than you though and it exploded a bit, no pictures as it wasn't pretty, but it tasted unreal! No work in it really, managed to make it around dinner and in a tiny kitchen no hassle (I had an entirely cooking club-inspired dinner last night, as all my posts tonight are showing!)

biddywiddy

So excited that you tried it! Thanks for posting.

maryk123

It looks lovely I am definitely going to try this at the weekend. I am always looking for an easy chocolate cake.

oscarBravo

My first attempt at this overflowed the tin slightly and then sank in the middle. It's still delicious and very edible, but any idea where it went wrong?

biddywiddy

Hmm, was the tin the correct size? It is quite a lot of batter, and my loaf tin is quite big so it doesn't ever overflow in it. I find that it does sometimes sink a bit in the middle, but it doesn't affect the flavour at all. The sinking could happen if your oven temperature setting is a bit off, or if you overmix after adding the dry ingredients.

Glad that you liked it though

oscarBravo

Maybe I overmixed it. I didn't want to stop mixing as long as I could see dry ingredients, but that was about all.

I'm using what I'd consider a standard loaf tin; I don't have a bigger one without getting into full-on cake tin territory.

I'll just have to try again

Faith

Sinking in the middle is often a sign of too much raising agent being used, or else maybe you opened the door of the oven while it was baking?

oscarBravo

Cheers Faith - I deffo didn't open the oven, but too much raising agent is a distinct possibility, as I guesstimated the half teaspoon (my measuring spoons were in the wash!) - like I said, I'll just have to make another one. Gosh darn it. :pac:

sdp

Lovely rich cake, did not have right tin, so tried it as a try bake, worked really well, added some chocolate on top
thank you



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The Black Oil

Your first photo would cause a car crash if it was on a billboard...

sdp

Hehe, Thank you

Tetra

I baked this today. Unfortunately the top got a bit overdone, but we cut that piece off and ate the rest with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. It was really good and chocolatey, thanks OP I plan to make it again very soon

annamcmahon

Made this yesterday with brown spelt and goat's milk. It is delicious. I'll definitely be trying it again

biddywiddy

annamcmahon wrote: »

Made this yesterday with brown spelt and goat's milk. It is delicious. I'll definitely be trying it again

That sounds like a brilliant alternative. Glad it turned out well.

annamcmahon

biddywiddy wrote: »

That sounds like a brilliant alternative. Glad it turned out well.

Next time I'm going to try it gluten free.

Birdsong

Made this cake on Monday night, it was fab -really easy to make, and went down a treat at work yesterday.

Thanks a mill, literally an Everyday Chocolate Cake

Teeley

Made this today as a tray bake..slathered in milk chocolate! Served it with ice cream for a lunch party..went down an absolute treat! Delicious!! Great recipe thanks..so quick and easy to bake.