Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Chocolate Cake



A lovely Christmas gift, neatly wrapped up ,..opened .. by three pairs of tiny hands, reaching impatiently to dig in at the yummiest goodie sitting pretty inside…the tiniest fingers(of my li’l sis )vouching for the thin white layer of simple white spread on top :) satisfied for the moment licking ‘em up..the other two pairs continuing for the rich, moist, chocolaty treat…

The above used to be the usual scene, every Christmas, when we were children.
Somehow ,three us were no great fans of those royal iced fruit cakes with the usual deep coloured hard sugar roses on top, which enter one by one during the festive season..

These Chocolate cakes make me truly nostalgic, simply turning me back to those lovely days, sent over specially by Omana aunty, our neighbour, in other words, Mrs Omana Paul, the master mind of the famous Devon Foods Ltd and a very well known caterer of our town)..yes we’re still lucky to receive her yummiest goodies, till date..;)..

(Let me hope she doesn’t chance upon my blog, esp this pick of mine as she's seemingly a li’l reluctant to share her specialities ;)..)


You Need:

All purpose flour - 300 gms
Powdered sugar - 450 gms (measure after powdering)
Unsalted butter - 290 gms
Milk powder - 20 gms
Curd - 8 oz
Cocoa powder - 70 gms
Eggs - 5 big
Salt - 1 pinch
Soda bi carb - 1 tsp
Nescafe instant coffee powder- 1 tsp
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

How To Make:

Sieve all purpose flour+ cocoa powder + milk powder + soda + salt at least six times. This is to make sure that the ingredients have blended completely.

Beat the curd well to remove any lumps.

Beat sugar and butter, keep adding one egg at a time and keep mixing well along with the coffee powder. When this batter has blended well, add the vanilla essence.

Alternately add the curd, and the powder mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Do not beat at this stage. Slowly blend the ingredients and keep mixing well.

Once the batter has blended well, grease a tray and bake in 350 degrees heat. It should take 35-40 minutes to be completely done or bake till the edge of an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Simple Butter Icing:

Mix 30gms butter and 80gms castor sugar and spread over the cake.

(Betty Crocker's/Pillsbury rich n creamy vanilla frosting would also work perfect).






Recipe courtesy : Mrs. Omana Paul.


Recipe Translation courtesy ;)-(since plagiarised from my sister’s post here.) ;) ;)

34 comments:

Swapna said...

wow!!! Rich and moist chocolate cake!!!! Very good one dear!! sooooo happy to see you blogging regularly :)

RAKS KITCHEN said...

This is absolutely yummy looking!! I wish I could bake like u!!

At least I can drool over here:P

Happy cook said...

Wow the cake looks so so moist and delicious.

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Chocolate cake is moist and soft... Am drooling...

Ushanandini said...

Chocolate cake is soft,moist and yum.....Love to grab those slices :P

Jayashree said...

Looks perfect, Bharathy....my favourite kind of cake at X'mas used to be plum cakes. I still think that Kerala has the best plum cakes.

SM said...

Looks moist. The addition of coffee to the chocolate cake must have really made a big difference.

bindiya said...

Hi Akka, I am coming here after such a long time...First of all will be trying Mrs Paul's cake asap, looks simply delicious and secondly, how have you been??

bindiya said...

Hi Akka, I am coming here after such a long time...First of all will be trying Mrs Paul's cake asap, looks simply delicious and secondly, how have you been??

bindiya said...

Hi Akka, I am coming here after such a long time...First of all will be trying Mrs Paul's cake asap, looks simply delicious and secondly, how have you been??

bindiya said...

Hi Akka, I am coming here after such a long time...First of all will be trying Mrs Paul's cake asap, looks simply delicious and secondly, how have you been??

Madhumathi said...

Your chocolate cake looks moist,rich and yummy..Its one of the perfect chocolate cakes!

Suparna said...

Hi,
Lovely moist and very tempting :) love rich choco cakes anytime.
TC

meeso said...

Oh my, what a picture! Too tempting!

Uma said...

wow, what a tempting cake. looks lovely!

A_and_N said...

Tried this from Nags' and heard about Aunty O :)

Nags said...

Ahh the good old days! I have made this more number of times than I can count but I still don't get this colour! Damn!!

renuka said...

Too...tempting Bharathy

Rachel said...

That is how moist her cakes are too!!

passionforlife said...

Luks absolutely yummy! slurrrp

Shilpa

aquadaze said...

my first time here..this chocolate cake is absolutely awesome! Love it, love it, love it :)

Suma Rajesh said...

ahaa...beautiful and moist cake..endee belated b day cake aanalle...hehe...btw a small treat for u on my blog..plzz take it..

mitr_bayarea said...

Such a moist chocolate cake, yummy!

alice said...

Dear Bharathy, hoe are you? Wish to see you more often...
Super delicious chocolate cake, yummy!
Lissie

Lavi said...

Bharathy..Lovely Cake!! such a close shot of the cake, really make me drool..

Thanks for the wishes from your Heart Bharathy!!

Have a Great vaccation time and enjoy with your Siblings!

Divya Kudua said...

Cake looks delectable Bharathy..I've been drooling at this cake ever since Nags posted it and now its your turn:)!!

Prathibha said...

Hey Bharathy,

I made this cake today. Made some changes, like instead of butter, I used coconut oil and some more small changes. Came out well! Moist too :) Thanks for the recipe..

Bharathy said...

Prathibha,
Glad to note you tried this cake and came out well :)
Coconut instead of butter!!!??Did you realy substitute that way??Interesting!! :)..
All is well that ends well ;)!
Thanx for the lovely feed back!

Prathibha said...

Yeah, I prefer using coconut oil to butter most of the times when baking. :) and comes out well usually. The first time I experimented with coconut oil while making pumpkin bread, I thought I might even smell like some curry we make using coconut oil, like the flavor of tadka! lol.. But no one has ever found out the difference till now unless I say! :)

Prathibha said...

Well, the only stupidity I did was with the size and shape of the baking dish which was deeper in the middle and shallow at the sides with some octagonal hexagonal and pentagonal shapes together! The middle portion took longer to bake and sides got a bit dry because of that! Never mind! there is always a next time. But this is the first time I got a moist cake, only the sides were a lil dry! Perfect recipe for me! Next tym I will be careful with the dish! :)

Bharathy said...

Prathibha :)!..that was so cute and prompt of you :)..
Have tried Oil is carrot cakes..but not here..Now mom and me are getting ready to make the same cake ..minus chocolate.. :)

Jen said...

Hi,
I just tried this cake yesterday and you wont believe what a big HIT it was!! Everyone loved how soft it was. I didnot use salt and I used Bru Instant coffee powder instead.I also just used plain milk. This was the best cake I have ever made... Thank u sooooooooooooo much for sharing :-)I already feel like a great chef ;)

Jen

Jen said...

Oh and also for the Icing i just found a great and simple method online. I mixed sugar, milk, butter and cocoa and I warmed it in sim flame, just so that the sugar and butter melts. (Warming is important as the melting sugar gives the glaze and shine for the cake).

Finally once the cake is baked, let it sit for 10mins and then pour this icing on top with a brush and spread evenly. This not only is sinfully yummy but it also gives the deep dark chocolaty colour for your cake...

Enjoy!

Bharathy said...

Jen, you donno how Glad I feel now!..
You have made my day!!!!! :)
I am so glad to note that you loved it..
Thanks a ton for your tips on icing!..will certainly try that when I bake next!!!!
Hugs,
Bharathy :)