The Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

This old fashioned chocolate cake is kind of everyone’s favorite in my family, so much so that my brother called me up on Friday afternoon and asked me to bake this one for him and bring that home when I visit my natives on weekend. This is so luscious and the fact this is scarcely any harder than baking a cake mix out of a box. This one’s so simple that everything goes into the processor and the processor does the whole thing for you. Obviously, you can make this by hand if you prefer the harder way. But I personally take the easiest and shorter route.

To bake this cake, you need…….

250 gm all-purpose flour
125 gm superfine sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
50 gm best-quality unsweetened cocoa
100 gm soft unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons good-quality vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

2 (each 8-inch diameter) layer tins with removable bases, buttered

Frosting:

100 gm good-quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
2 tbsp unsalted butter
100 gm confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract

Take everything out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture. Divide this batter, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don’t worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.

To make this icing, melt the chocolate and butter in a good-sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. While the chocolate and butter is cooling a little, sieve the confectioners’ sugar into another bowl. Add the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved confectioners’ sugar. You may need to add a little boiling water, say a teaspoon or so, or indeed some more confectioners’ sugar, depending on whether you need the frosting to be thinner or thicker. It should be liquid enough to coat easily, but thick enough not to drip off. Sit 1 of the cakes with uppermost side down. Spoon about 1/3 of the frosting onto the center of the cake-half and spread with a knife or spatula until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, normal way up, pressing gently to sandwich the 2 together. Spoon another 1/3 of the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread it in a textured way. If you prefer, you can also go for a smooth finish. Spread the sides of the cake with icing and leave for few hours in refrigerator to get cooled.