Mmmmm, cake (for bloke!)

Rikki

Starry-eyed_surprise wrote:

Hi Mr B

Don't know if your kitchen can cope with this but I have a great recipe for frosted chocolate yoghurt cake. Mind you, you do need a few basic cake making type things -i.e. cake tins. Ideally you also need an electric whisk but elbow grease and a bowl and fork should do the trick if you don't have one. Also, some means of weighing the ingredients would be good. The recipe I have uses measuring cups but if you keep the proportions then I guess that a standard mug could be regarded as being roughly equivalent to about 2 cups (approx 8 tablespoons=1 cup). If you don't want to bother with the frosting, just dust the cake with sugar and sandwich it together with bought chocolate spread or whatever.

What you need for the cake:
100g dark chocolate
half cup water
185g butter
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla essence
1 and half cups brown sugar
3 eggs
half cup (plain) yoghurt
2 and half cups self-raising flour

and for the frosting you will need 250g dark chocolate, half cup sour cream, 1 cup icing sugar.

What you do:
1. Grease 2 cake tins. Suggest 20cm round tins but whatever you can scrounge.
2. Melt chocolate and half cup water together in a bowl over another bowl of hot water then let the mix cool.
3. Put butter, sugar, and vanilla essence in a bowl and cream (beat together) until it looks light and fluffy. This is easiest done with an electric whisk.
4. Next, put the eggs in to the mixture, one at a time, and beat them in too. If you break them into a saucer first it stops any stray bits of shell getting in by accident!!
5. Now stir in the chocolate/water mixture and the yoghurt.
6. Finally, add the flour. Adding it in two lots is best. Ideally you will have sifted the flour first to put air in it. If you don't have a sieve then just sprinkle the flour from a spoon high(ish) above the bowl.
7. Pour the mixture into the two cake tins and bake for about 40 minutes at 180-200C

Frosting:
1. Melt chocolate as before.
2. Stir in sour cream.
3. Stir in (sifted) icing sugar.
4, Cool in the fridge to thicken it.

Assemble:
Use frosting to join the two cakes together and spread frosting over the top.
You can also split each cake in half first so you join 4 thinner caakes with layers of frosting.

Eat and enjoy.:)
Good Luck. Here's a :coffee: to go with you cake:)

I'm going to give this ago. :T

Started to clean the oven last night. Must finish it now.:o

Rikki

Right the cake is in the oven.

Now I have two questions.
1) I used soft dark brown sugar is this right or did you mean demerera sugar?
2) I haven't any cream so I can't make sour cream. Can I use yoghurt instead?

annie-c

Ratio for sponge cake ingredients = 2:2:2:1 (2oz butter, 2oz sugar, 2oz self raising flour, 1 egg)

Special equipment needed: 1 proper 30ml tablespoon, 1 wooden spoon, 1 bowl, 1 baking tray, 1 packet paper cake cases - No need for scales or tins!!

Butter - can be bought in an 8oz block and the packet divided into 4 to give 2oz blocks
Sugar & flour - 1 oz = 1 rounded tablespoon - use your eye to measure; 'rounded' means the curve of the top of the spoonful should mirror the curve of the spoon itself
Eggs - use size medium - handily measured out by Mother Nature and packaged by Tesco!

Measure all ingredients into a bowl, beat with wooden spoon, half fill cake cases and bung in electricky oven, preheated to 190 C, for 10 mins or until risen and delicious.

You could invest in a cooling rack, or use the (clean) grill tray, or just eat them hot as soon they come out of the oven.....

EDIT: A tablespoon is 30ml, not 15ml as prev stated!!!

Starry-eyed_surprise

Rikki wrote:

Right the cake is in the oven.

Now I have two questions.
1) I used soft dark brown sugar is this right or did you mean demerera sugar?
2) I haven't any cream so I can't make sour cream. Can I use yoghurt instead?

Hi Rikki,
Soft dark brown sugar should give it a yummy slightly nutty taste. I just use whatever I have in. Often just golden granulated (unrefined) sugar. As far as the yoghurt goes, well, I would just experiment. I don't think it will thicken but chocolatey yoghurty frosting sounds fine to me. Hope it works out ok. I can almost smell the cake from my computer. mmmmmm:)

Rikki

I have to pass Tescos tomorrow so I wil pop in and get a pot. I need a few other bit too. I'll mix a small yoghurt sample to try. I think this may work well if you serve it as a sponge with a chocolate yoghurt sauce.

The cakes sitting in the tin calling to me. No1 son thought we had brownies cooking as he could smell the real chocolate cooking. 70% cocoa so its going to be good. Not quite sure all 100grams made it into the cake though.:o

mrbadexample

Wow! Loads of replies! :T

Ok, let me try and sort through what's what. :think:

Stuff I have got:

Wooden spoons. 2 actually, plus this thing:



A spoon with a corner? What's that all about then?

Sieve. Not especially fine - holes in mesh about 1.5mm² or 1/16" for you old 'uns. Will that do?

Scales. Found them in one of the cupboards a couple of months ago. They're not mine, so must belong to the previous occupant of the house. I've been here a little over three years.
They're not great, but they were free! :j



I think I need:

Cake tins. What diameter / depth would be best? I think I would probably like big cakes best, but am happy to be guided.
A mixing bowl. I've got a fairly big bowl but I think I need a bigger one.
One of those wire rack-type-things.
Greaseproof paper.
Some sort of whisk thing. Know anywhere I can get an electric one for a fiver, like the stick blender Squeaky made me buy so I can turn stew into soup?
If I'm going to venture into the realms of "frosting", a palette knife would probably be handy.

I don't mind spending a bit. (Not too much, mind, I don't want to lose my site pass. )

Ok, just a couple of questions regarding ingredients. Firstly, sugar. There are lots of different types, and I'm not buying them all. I'm prepared to buy one brown and one white. Which should I go for?

Secondly, butter. I usually buy Clover as it has a decent taste and spreads from the fridge. Is this any good for baking, or shall I just go and buy butter (unsalted I think someone mentioned)? I'm not using marge as it's nasty.

I'll grab some baking powder to keep in the cupboard - any other basic I should stock?

Ok, think about that lot while I respond to some of the previous messages. :cool:

mrbadexample

Starry-eyed_surprise wrote:

Hi Mr B

Don't know if your kitchen can cope with this but I have a great recipe for frosted chocolate yoghurt cake.

Thanks Starry, sounds exactly like what I'm after. :drool:

I'm not worried if the kitchen can cope, I'm worried about me! :rotfl:

mrbadexample

nabowla wrote:

Before you buy anything though, think carefully about how often you're likely to use the equipment.

Annually? :rotfl:

nabowla wrote:

(I'm guessing I'll need to explain things like 'cream together the butter and sugar....'!)

Surprisingly, no! I've seen me mum make cake.

mrbadexample

Rikki wrote:

Right the cake is in the oven.

Now I have two questions.
1) I used soft dark brown sugar is this right or did you mean demerera sugar?
2) I haven't any cream so I can't make sour cream. Can I use yoghurt instead?

1) Nope, you've spoiled it. Send it to me for safe disposal.
2) Nope, the recipe says sour cream, that's what it has to be. :whistle:

Gerroff my thread! You know how to cook! :rotfl:

Rikki

A spoon with a corner? What's that all about then?

Getting the mixture out of the corners. ie when you are stiring food in a saucepan.