Chocolate Cake

I've had this chocolate cake recipe for 15 years now and it ALWAYS works. Its so easy my 3 year old does most of the work for me!

Start off with the chocolate base:


1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add  the cocoa powder. Cook for 1 minute on low heat stirring constantly. Don't overcook or the cake will taste of burnt cocoa. Add the sugar and mix till incorporated. The mixture will darken when you add the sugar. Remove from heat.

2 Eggs
3/4 cup Cake &Pastry Flour (or All-purpose Flour) with a tiny pinch of salt (don't add the salt if you're using salted butter)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk

In a separate bowl mix together the eggs. The next step is to mix in the cocoa mixture. Keep in mind that the cocoa mixture will be warm and the eggs will be cold. So you will need to bring up the temperature of the eggs gradually. This process is called Tempering: Mix in a bit of the hot mixture in the eggs and mix well. Gradually add more of the hot liquid and mix well. Slowly add the entire cocoa mix in the eggs mixture and mix well.

Mix the baking powder and salt in the flour and fold the dry mix in the cocoa batter. (Feel free to taste the mixture as you mix it.) Fold in the milk. Pour in a lined baking pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 20 mins.

A quick way to dress it: Smooth over some Nutella on the cooled cake and viola! 

More fun ways to make this cake:

Bake it in a Wilton Character Pan - I did Elmo for my son's 2nd Birthday last year: 

A good friend of mine (Tamania) used the same recipe to make Cupcakes too: