Archives for January 2012

A chocolate cake recipe is a must for new housewives, mothers, aspiring bakers, and let’s just include everybody else. This Plain Chocolate Cake Recipe is the basis for all variants of everybody’s favorite treat. You can add or reduce the sugar content or augment with artificial sweetener, depending on your taste or health restrictions. This can be a stand-alone food or served with hot cocoa, coffee, milk, tea or cream. Usually the life of most birthday parties, the chocolate cake can be considered as a staple amongst sweet treats. So perfect this classic dessert and you will surely get your just desserts.

Ingredients:

– 2 cups brown sugar, packed
– 1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
– 3/4 cup cocoa powder or powdered chocolate drink
– 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
– 1 teaspoon iodized salt
– 2 whole eggs
– 1 cup evaporated milk
– 1/2 cup vegetable oil (preferably canola)
– 2 teaspoons vanilla flavor extract

Method:

•  Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
•  Line a 9-inch round baking pan with wax paper or spray with non-stick spray, or brush thinly with canola oil (depends on convenience and availability).
•  Stir together the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt, in a large bowl.
•  Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.
•  Beat with a hand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes (or simply mix by hand using a wooden spoon until there are no lumps left).
•  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
•  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes, so the sides will not stick to the pan, before removing from the pan to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Chocolate is best topped with a gleaming and thick chocolate frosting, preferably made with dark chocolate. You may also opt for whipped cream or egg-white icing. This cake is very versatile. Variations of this heavenly comfort food can
range from multilevel layers and icing to multifarious toppings such as fruit, candied flowers, colorful sprinkles, et cetera ad infinitum. It’s all up to your imagination and the sky’s the limit to what you want your cake to be; trust me, with this timeless recipe, you will always have your cake and eat it too.

A child’s first birthday is a cause for celebration for all parents and guardians as they have survived the first year of parenthood unscathed. It’s quite a personal affair so you need to choose the right chocolate cake recipe for this. More importantly, you need to choose the right theme or motif to decorate your cake with. I highly recommend this First Birthday Cake Recipes that will surely please both adults and children. It’s very easy to make plus the decorations can either be store-bought or home-crafted according to your taste and budget. Have a happy birthday party!

Ingredients:

– 2 cups cake flour
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 3 tbs. cocoa or chocolate powder, unsweetened
– 1 tsp. baking powder
– 1 whole egg
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1 tsp. instant decaffeinated coffee (to consider the kids who will partake)
– 6 tbs. palm or canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
– 1 tsp. vanilla flavor extract
– 1 cup cold water

Method:

•  Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
•  Spray a 9-inch round baking pan with non-stick spray, or brush thinly with oil.
•  Stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, decaf, and salt in a large bowl.
•  Add the eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix the batter. Do not beat.
•  Pour in the cup of cold water and mix until evenly blended.
•  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
•  Cool for about 10 minutes, so the sides will not stick to the pan, before removing from the pan to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Frosting:

Ingredients:

– 1 regular pack of cream cheese
– 1/3 cup fresh butter
– 1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
– 1 teaspoon vanilla flavor extract
– 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
– food coloring for trimming

Method:

•  Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
•  Continue beating while adding the butter and scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
•  Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar.
•  Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
•  Set aside about 1/2 cup of frosting for the pipe trimmings.
•  Spread frosting evenly over the cooled cake.
•  Mix in food coloring to the remaining 1/2 cup of frosting.
•  Scoop the frosting into a pastry bag and trim the top or bottom edge of the cake.
•  Refrigerate for about 10 mins then decorate.

Suggestions: For boys, you can buy current and classic plastic action figures. For girls, you can never go wrong with pink or yellow candy flowers and mini dolls. Or you can simply go with bright rainbow colored candies and balloon lollipops all around a pretty, white carousel. Don’t forget the candle.

Birthdays are always important whether you are celebrating for a child or an adult. But when it comes to your child’s 1st birthday cake recipes, adding your own personal touch will make it even more special and make you feel good inside. Here is a ‘monkey face’ 1st birthday chocolate cake recipe, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your young one’s face.

To create this masterpiece you will require a basic 9-inch sponge cake.

Ingredients:

•  1/3 cup corn flour
•  1/3 cup plain flour
•  1/3 cup self-raising flour
•  4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
•  4 eggs at room temperature
•  2/3 cup castor sugar
•  1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 180C.
2.  Grease a 9-inch cake pan and set aside.
3.  Separate the egg whites from the yolks.
4.  Beat the egg whites using an electric blender until soft peaks are formed.
5.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until the sugar starts to dissolve.
6.  Add the peaky egg whites and beat the mixture some more. The trick behind the fluffiness of sponge cake is to incorporate as much air as possible.
7.  Add the vanilla essence and mix well.
8.  Sift the corn flour, plain flour and self-raising flour in a bowl.
9.  Add the flour mix and cocoa powder to the egg mix and fold the mix.
10.  Pour the batter in the cake pan.
11.  Bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes.
12.  Remove from the oven and cool the cake on a wire rack.

For preparing the monkey face you will need:

•  2 chocolate covered doughnuts
•  1 cup vanilla frosting
•  1/2 cup chocolate sprinklers
•  2 1/2 cups chocolate frosting
•  2 brown M&Ms
•  2 Oreo cookies
•  2 teaspoons mixed fruit jam
•  1 chocolate Twizzlers
•  Piping bags

Assembling the cake:

1.  Place the cake on a clean surface and trim 1/2 inch from each side of the cake.
2.  Cut 1/2 inch from the doughnuts.
3.  Place the trimmed doughnuts on the sides of the cut portion of the cake for the monkey’s ears.
4.  Divide the vanilla frosting in 1/2. To one-half add a little bit of red food coloring to get a very pale pink color.
5.  Cover the top half of the cake with chocolate frosting.
6.  For the lower half use the pale pink frosting to make a kidney bean type shape for the mouth.
7.  Use the M&Ms to mark the nose of the monkey.
8.  Pipe the rest of the vanilla frosting in two white circles to mark the eyes. Place the Oreo cookies in the center of the white circles.
9.  Pipe the jam as the smiling mouth.
10.  Press the chocolate sprinklers on the forehead, top of the head and under the chin.
11.  Scrape the chocolate twizzler to make the hairs of the monkey.
12.  Let the cake cool in the fridge to allow the frosting to set.

Before assembling the cake you can slice it horizontally and apply some chocolate frosting in between the layers for a more chocolaty taste.

The secret weapon to the success of every dinner party is beautiful chocolate desserts. There are many ways to use the ever popular chocolate cake recipe in dessert, but it is the plain chocolate cake that is the most popular of all. A plain chocolate cake with some frosting is all you need to finish off the scrumptious dinner that you prepared. Here is a plain chocolate cake recipe that you can prepare in no time.

Ingredients:

•  4 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour
•  2 cups of castor sugar
•  1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
•  ¾ cup of cocoa powder
•  2 teaspoons of baking soda
•  2 teaspoons of baking powder
•  1 cup of butter (at room temperature)
•  1 ¼ cups of milk
•  3 large eggs
•  1 ¼ cups of hot coffee (you can use the decaf variety also)

Method:

•  Preheat the oven to 170C.
•  Grease an 11-inch cake tin or two 7-inch baking tins using a little flour and oil.
•  In a deep mixing bowl, add the butter, sugar and eggs, and beat at a very high speed using a food processor or blender until the mix is smooth and creamy and almost double in size.
•  Add the milk and coffee to the mix and beat some more. Don’t forget to scrape the bottom of the bowl in between so that all the ingredients are fully incorporated.
•  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder.
•  Add this mix to the egg-butter mix, adding one large spoon at a time and beating well in between each addition.
•  Pour the mix in the prepared cake pan and smooth the tops.
•  Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour.
•  At the end of the baking time you will have a nice dark brown chocolate cake. Let it cool in the tin before removing from the pan.

The chocolate cake is incomplete without some delicious cream decorations to go along with it. Here is the recipe for a delicious chocolate cream that perfectly complements the chocolate cake.

Ingredients:

•  2 ¼ cups of fresh cream
•  500 grams of dark cooking chocolate (chopped and at room temperature)
•  250 grams of fresh raspberries (cut in halves lengthwise)

Method:

•  Place the cake on a serving plate.
•  Heat the cream in a saucepan until very hot.
•  Remove from heat, add the chocolate, and stir well.
•  Let it chill completely.
•  Slather the prepared chocolate cream on the cake covering all the sides. Decorate with sliced raspberries and serve with some fresh cream on the side.