cake Archives - The scented abode

A few weeks ago, I came across an article in a newspaper about a new cake recipe that was fast becoming the next big thing, after cupcakes, macaroons and pop cakes.

Magic cakes apparently are cakes that have three different layers of textures, a crumbly cake layer beneath which sits a custard textured layer which sits on top of another layer of cake.

It is the chemistry or is it alchemy, that creates the layers out of a single mix.

The article and recipe idea described was so tempting, that I had to give it a try, aside from the fact that I love anything with Chocolate.

Before making the cake, it’s helpful to check out this feature on YouTube, as I had no idea what kind of consistency the final batter should be, my first attempt at this cake didn’t quite achieve the three layers.

I got a very thin layer the first time I tried, it was still a very tasty cake and filled my house with the beautiful scent of vanilla and chocolate. I don’t think there is a more heavenly scent than a hot oven with chocolate cake baking inside.

So for ingredients, as the recipe called for a lot of milk, I’ve substituted this for Almond Milk, as my hubby reacts badly to cow’s milk.

He gets what I can only describe as a man headache, like man flu and has to lie down in a darkened room until it goes away.

So, to avoid a headache, it’s Almond milk that I’m using in this recipe, but you can, of course, use cows milk as normal.

The second time, I tried this bake, I added a small amount of white vinegar to the egg whites. I omitted this the first time, as I wasn’t sure about the idea of using vinegar, in case it wouldn’t taste very good. You can’t taste anything but sweetness and chocolate in the final cake.

You will also need a whisk and 3 mixing bowls. One for the egg whites, one for sifting flour and cocoa and one to mix it all together.

Now for the ingredients:

113g Butter

600ml Warm Milk (I used Almond milk)

115g Plain Flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

43g Cocoa powder

30ml Dark Espresso (I used powdered decaff)

4 eggs

4 drops white vinegar

210g soft brown sugar

1-2 drops Vanilla essence

8″x8″ dish

To make:

Preheat the oven at 165c

Soften/melt the butter

Whisk the flour and cocoa powder together

Separate and whip the egg whites until it becomes stiff as if making a meringue.

Beat egg yolks and sugar, beat in melted butter and the espresso mixture and the vanilla essence, then mix the flour and cocoa with the baking powder into the batter. Gently mix in the warm milk and gently fold in the stiff egg whites a third at a time.

It will look like a lumpy thick batter, not like a cake mix but a very thick milkshake kind of consistency.

Pour this into the prepared pan (I lined my square cake tin with greaseproof paper.

Bake at 325f/165c for 50-60 minutes.

When you get it out of the oven, the mixture may wobble a little, this is normal for this type of cake. The first time I made this cake, I wasn’t convinced and put it back in several times, but after about three times in the oven I was convinced that the wobble was expected and the cake was in fact cooked.

The second time around, it looked perfect.

Leave to cool completely.

Dust with Icing Sugar and add some fresh fruit to serve.

Hmmm, I think I’ll go and have another slice!

White Vinegar in Magic Chocolate Cake recipe

I’ve been clearing out our grocery cupboard. Every few months, I make an effort to purge our groceries to make sure there is nothing lurking in the back of the cupboard that is going out of sell-by date.

It sometimes reveals some interesting finds.

Today, I found these dried sour cherries. I don’t remember buying these, so it must have been my hubby. At any rate they are about to reach the end of their shelf life. Rather than waste them, I decided to put them to use in a cake.

Since I also had some bananas which were going very brown, they were now not so great looking in the fruit bowl but would be perfect for this Banana Loaf.

Ingredients:

75g Dried apricots (dried squishy fruit such as apricots if you have them)

75g Sour Cherries

Zest of 1 lemon

100g Unsalted Butter (softened but not melted)

125g soft brown sugar

2 large eggs (free range if possible)

2-3 large ripe bananas

200g self raising flour

Loaf tin (13x23x7cm)

Loaf tin paper case (optional)

For the crunchy topping: (this is optional)

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon of Rolled Oats

1 teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

To make the cake:

In a bowl, mix together the Sugar, Butter and eggs. Combine them until it is a soft batter. Add the chopped fruit (apricots and sour cherries) along with the zest of 1 lemon.

Mash the bananas until they are gloopy and runny and add these into the bowl and stir gently.

Add sifted self-raising flour gently, I tend to put the sieve over the bowl and gently tap in the flour, folding in the flour into the mixture. It should look a little lumpy, (making sure that there are no pockets of flour in the mix).

Spoon into the loaf tin as evenly as possible (it will spread out as it cooks).

My eldest made the crunchy topping at school during one of the cookery lessons and she showed my how to make this delicious topping.

To make the crunchy cinnamon topping:

In a Saucepan, gently melt the soft butter and soft brown sugar, add in rolled oats and ground cinnamon, making sure you coat all the oats with the cinnamon and buttery sugar. Once golden brown take off the stove and add small dollops of the mixture over the top of the cake mix that is in the loaf tin. As it cooks the small dollops of oats mixed into the butter and sugar will turn cook with the loaf and give a wonderfully fragrant cinnamony crunchy texture to the cake.

In the pre-heated oven, bake on 160c for about an hour (check around 50 mins to see if the cake is ready). It’s ready when you can put a skewer into the cake and pull it out clean.

This cake can be eaten hot from the oven but can be stored for a couple of days in an air-tight container to keep it moist.