July 31, 2011

“ALL IN ONE” CHOCOLATE CAKE

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Dom at Bellau Kitchen had another Random Recipe Challenge, this time to cook something from your favourite recipe book.  I decided to have a go, confident that I knew instantly which was my favourite cookbook, but when I came to pick it off the shelf – several shelves nowadays, groaning under the weight of and ever-increasing collection of cookbooks– I found myself hesitating. 

chocolate cake

How could I choose one beloved cookbook over another – there were so many well-used and well-loved favourites.  There were very old favourites from the 1970’s, newer ones from the 80’s and 90’s, and lots of really new ones, full of exciting recipes that I can hardly wait to try.  Choosing turned out to be quite a problem, involving lots of head-scratching, soul-searching and delicious time spent browsing my collection of books and remembering past baking adventures.

In the end I stuck with my original thought, my very first recipe book, well thumbed and with a few greasy pages – even though I try to keep my cookbooks in pristine condition, sooner or later, something is just bound to get splattered onto the pages.  The Homepride Book of Home Baking.

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The book was published in 1970 and I sent off for it using a coupon from a pack of Homepride flour.  There are more coupons inside the back page that you can give to your friends so they can send for one too, for the princely sum of 13/6.  That’s 13 shillings and 6 pence in old money, about 65p in new money.  In the early 70’s, in a good  month, if I did lots of overtime and several Saturday mornings, I would bring home £100 after tax, so 65p was quite a proportion of my wages, much more so than an average cookbook today.

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Every page has several recipes on and I kind of knew instantly which page it would fall open at – the book almost opens itself at the same page, it has been used so often !!  So I decided to bake the “all in one” chocolate cake, my absolute favourite in the book.

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It has to be the easiest cake ever to make.  You put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat for one minute.  Bake for 25 minutes, make a simple butter icing, sandwich the two halves together and it’s done!

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Nowadays I use my Kenwood Chef, making the process even easier.  I still beat the butter cream by hand – there’s something satisfying about giving it a good beating and ending up with something really smooth and silky.  (Not to mention really tasty and chocolatey too.)

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I always make the same pattern on top, dragging a fork through the buttercream, just like the picture in the book.  Then I sprinkle a little icing sugar on top.

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ET VOILÀ !!  A chocolate cake that is moist, chocolately, dead easy to make and has been presented at many a birthday party over the decades.  (four decades, now I think about it!)

All in one Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

For the cake

150g self raising flour

a small pinch of salt

3 eggs

150g whipped fat

150 caster sugar

1tablespoon cocoa powder

1tablespoon warm water

For the butter icing

50g butter

100g icing sugar

1tablespoon cocoa powder

1tablespoon water

Method

Grease two sandwich tins and line the bottoms with greaseproof or baking paper.  Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Mix the cocoa powder and water to a smooth paste, add to a mixing bowl with all the other cake ingredients and beat for one minute until thoroughly combined.

Divide the mixture between the two tins and level the top.

Bake for 25 minutes until firm to the touch.

Turn out and cool on a rack.

While the cake is cooling, make the buttercream.  Cut the butter into pieces and beat until soft.

Sift the icing sugar into the butter a spoonful at a time and beat until smooth.

Mix the cocoa powder to a paste with the water, add to the buttercream mixture and beat again until silky and smooth.

When the cakes are absolutely cold*, put one upside down on your serving plate and spread half the buttercream over it, making sure you go right to the edge.

Spread the other half of the buttercream on top of the other cake and smooth with a knife.

Sandwich the two halves together.  Make a zig-zag or swirly pattern in the topping with a fork and sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar.

Serves 8-10

*I learned the hard way many years ago that if you are in a hurry and try to put the topping on the cake when it is still slightly warm, it melts and slides off !!

5 comments:

  1. I love this. A book you have used over and over and has stood the test of time. And a recipe that you go back to again and again. Perfect.
    The random recipe challenge has, so far, given me new recipes to try but some of them will be ones that will probably go into my repertoire and will hopefully be used over and over like the easy chicken liver pate or the Praised chicken.
    I especially love the idea of well-used recipes getting passed down through families - I just hope that some of my Mum's and Grandma's recipes get used by the boys and keep their timeless appeal.
    Great post.

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  2. Mmmmmm can I come and clean the bowl out please ;-) This just looks so delicious. Keep well, Diane

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  3. OMG!!! Firstly, I love this book. My mum has a copy of it too. It brings back so many memories! Secondly, why so late!?!? I will re-write the post just for you honey. Thanks for taking part.... Maybe a little earlier next time!!

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  4. I seem to remember cutting out coupons to send off for cookery books, although I don't remember this one. Goodness knows what happened to the books I did get - I admire the way you've managed to hold on to it. Great looking cake - I love easy cakes and chocolate.

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  5. Love the story behind this and also your fork dragging decorating - it works really well. And as for the cake - chocolate? Moi? Absolument pas ;-)

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