HONEY CHOCOLATE CAKE

This month’s We Should Cocoa challenge, an event organised by Chele of Chocolate Teapot and, this month, Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog, is to bake something with chocolate and honey.  You can see the details here.

A browse through my collection of cook books left me uninspired but I found a recipe for a very simple honey chocolate cake on the internet.  I decided to give it a try even though it was written in cup measurements.

Cup measurements make me uneasy for some reason.  I find I somehow don’t trust myself to measure accurately and always wonder if I’ve got it right.  For example, if the flour or sugar is more firmly packed on one day compared to another the quantity is not going to weigh the same – is it?

I decided to convert the recipe to grams by weighing the ingredients as I measured them out using my cup measures, so that if I want to make the cake again it will be already written in grams, which I am much more comfortable with.  Once I had made the mixture there seemed to be quite a lot of it so I also used a slightly larger tin than suggested.

The cake was easy to make and turned out well - I added a few sprinkles, just for fun.  It was very chocolatey with a slightly chewy, almost brownie-like texture and the icing didn’t really set, staying wickedly sticky.   A nice change from my customary chocolate sponge with a buttercream filling and topping. 

So well done Choclette for leading me to bake a recipe I would otherwise never have found.  It was well worth doing and I am sure I will use the recipe again.

Ingredients

(I give here my conversion into grams but if you want to check you will find the original recipe here.)

125g softened butter

50g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

225g runny honey (I used Sainsbury’s own brand mild honey)

225g self-raising flour

60g cocoa powder

150ml milk

For the icing:

140g icing sugar

60g cocoa powder

75g runny honey

1 tbslp hot water

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Butter and base line a 23cm square cake tin.

Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy, by hand or in an electric mixer.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Add the honey and beat again until well blended.

Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold in.  Add the milk and stir in.

Tip into the prepared tin and level the top. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes until risen and firm.  Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, sift the sugar and cocoa into a bowl.  Mix the honey and water together then add to the sugar and blend well together.  Add a drop or two more water if necessary to get the right runniness for drizzling.

Cut the cake into squares and drizzle the icing over.  I did this by putting the cooling rack on a baking tray so as not to drizzle all over the worktop.

Add sprinkles, decorations, chocolate raisins, or anything you fancy before serving.

Cuts into 16 generous squares.