Chocolate Cake - Christmas Tradition 3

This cake is beyond any doubt one of my most 'famous' cakes and it is certainly looked forward to by friends and family alike at Christmas time.

My Mom would make this cake for all the special occasions, and of course for Christmas but for the last 12 years or so, I have taken over the responsibility of baking the Chocolate Cake for Christmas.



This recipe actually originated from my Paternal Grand Aunt - Aunty Freda. Her recipe was passed down to all her sisters, nieces, daughters - basically to everyone in the family. My mom however, seems to have perfected making the cake as everyone in the family says that her Chocolate Cake is the best. My mom in turn, passed the recipe on to many a friend and relative but somehow, they have never been able to get it to turn out quite the same way. Some have even accused my dear mother of witholding some secret ingredient in the recipe!

This is one of the very first cakes I baked by myself. In fact, the first time I baked this cake, I was about 15 or so. In my eagerness to do it myself, I got confused with the different types of flour in the house. Instead of using plain wheat flour, I used Atta flour instead – a kind of wholewheat flour (the type used to make chappatis!) The cake still turned out okay except that the Atta flour gave the cake a very wheaty, grainy texture! That episode is now fondly referred to by my friends and family as the Chocolate Chappati incident!

Of course, that experience made me learn that there were different kinds of flours used for different purposes. I also learnt how different cake tins produces different results as well as how different ovens could also produce different results. I obviously learned well from my mother as I have managed to reproduce her famous Chocolate Cake and I believe, my cake is now the benchmark. I guess it also helps that I use the same oven as my mother did (she has changed her oven since and I think it affects the timing of the recipe). I have made a slight adjustment to the original recipe but this is only for the icing where I add a little bit more butter to make the icing a little creamier. The original recipe was always for a large rectangular tin but I have halved the recipe to make a nice 9" round or a smaller rectangle or square.


Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
250 g Butter
300 g Castor Sugar
200 g flour
30 g corn flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 eggs
3 tbsp cocoa
1½ tbsp milk
1 tbsp honey
3/8 cup hot water
1 tsp vanilla

Method
Cream butter and sugar till light
Beat the eggs lightly and add in a little at a time
Sift flour, corn flour and bicarbonate of soda together. Fold into cream mixture
Combine water with cocoa and smoothen to a paste
Add in to cake mixture. Mix well
Add in honey, milk and vanilla. Mix well
Spread into a lined and greased cake pan
Bake in a preheated 180oC oven for 50 minutes of till done.
Remove from Oven and cool
Frost with Chocolate Icing


Chocolate Icing
170 g Icing sugar
60 g cocoa
60 g butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 coffee mug hot water

Method
Cream butter till soft
Sift icing sugar and cocoa together
Slowly add to butter and cream. Mixture sill stiffen
Add in hot water a little at a time till desired consistency is achieved. (Like thick butercream)
Spread onto cake and let set


My children love this cake too and I bake it for Birthday's or anytime the kids feel like some of "Daddy's Yummy Chocolate Cake!"