chocolate! chocolate! chocolate!!!!!

Can I scream that any louder??? How appropriate that my official 'official' post is on chocolate. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE chocolate, anything chocolate, particularly dark chocolate.

Another thing or should I say person I love is Donna Hay, her recipes are easy and delicious!! I subscribe to her magazine and have a number of her cook books and when I'm lost for inspiration I head straight to them... she always delivers the goods. Not even my husband seems to understand how much I LOVE Donna Hay, not in a stalker-ish way... (it's just that secretly I want to BE HER!!)

So when I was asked to organize a cake for our Tai Chi instructor (yes... I do Tai Chi and I'm not ashamed to admit it!!) and knew that she lovedddd chocolate almost as much as me I knew the perfect cake! Everyone assumed I'd just go out and buy one... please as if I'd give up the chance to bake one of my favorite cakes. Here is Donna Hay's easy chocolate cake from her "off the shelf: cooking from the pantry" cook book.


Easy Chocolate Cake

250g (8 oz) butter
11/3 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups plain (all purpose) flour, shifted
11/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (8 fl oz) sour cream
250g (8 oz) dark chocolate, melted
chocolate glaze
150g (5 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup (21/2 fl oz) cream

Preheat the oven to 160Cº (325Fº). Grease a 22cm (9 in) round cake tin. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add the eggs and beat well. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa over the butter mixture, add the sour cream and chocolate and mix until just combined.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until just set (note: I have found that for some reason I need to bake my cake for 1hr 20mins or sometimes 1hr40mins. The center of my cake is still wobbly after an hour and I have that when I take out the cake when it's 'just set' as the recipe states that the center collapses.) Cool in the tin.

To make the chocolate glaze, combine the chocolate and cream in a saucepan over low heat and stir until smooth. Allow glaze to stand for 5 minutes before spreading over the top of the cake. Serves 8 - 10.

*suggestion: as you can see in my photo I have dusted icing sugar around the edge of the cake and placed couple of raspberries in the centre. I just find that it takes the cake to the next level and give is a more 'wow' factor.