Big, Fat Chocolate Cake

Hello!  i'm back with a recipe i'm sure you would like to try, if you are like me i suppose anything with chocolate IS woth a try.  Anyway, i don't know what got to me but a couple of hours before work i thought i'd bake a cake- and so i did, a new recipe too that was just screaming at me from it's pages so i have to give in, Lol. Now, it was 10:00 at night when i finished this so sorry for the photo, a bit dark :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 c cocoa

1 c hot water

1 c milk

2 tbsp. instant coffee

pinch of salt

3 c flour

1 1/2  tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 c butter, room temperature

2 1/2 c sugar

4 eggs

vanilla

HOW TO:

1. Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl. Make sure you use a whisk to free it from lumps.

2. Sift the second three ingredients in another bowl & set aside.

3. Using a mixer with a balloon whisk- cream butter and sugar til light and fluffy. Crack in the eggs one by one to incorporate well. Add vanilla.

4. Alternately mix in the cocoa and the dry ingredients into this mixture until well blended.

5. Pour in a lined pan and bake at 180 deg. C until center springs back to touch. Cool completely.

FROSTING:

You can use any kind of frosting that you want really- cream cheese, whipped cream, butter cream or ganache. I used swiss buttercream frosting for this but i would rather have used cream cheese to add a bit of tang to it. Anyway CLICK ME to go to my favourite  Martha Stewart site & choose from the array of frosting recipes on there. Enjoy!

COOK'S NOTE:

I used one tall round cake pan and put the cake in the fridge until it is firm enough for me to slice it lengthwise into three, now to save you all that trouble- divide the batter into three round cake tins. Also- make sure oven is pre-heated and tins are lined and well greased.

*RECIPE from Maya Kitchen, The Complete Guide To Baking.

“He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.” 
― Michael Pollan