Second Time's a Charm

Hi there!

A few days ago I attended a birthday party. A 'surprise' birthday party. I offered to bake the birthday girl a cake.

I baked a cake that was tried and tested a couple of times by my family and everyone liked it. So I started the evening before the party. I, trying to be clever used Self raising flour instead of the mentioned All purpose flour. The result - DISASTER. Even though Self raising flour is a mixture of All purpose flour and baking soda/ baking powder, the quantities required for this cake varied. The cake became heavy and was undone and I had to throw it away!

The following morning I bought All purpose flour and baked the cake in the required procedure. I was so scared as I waited for it to get out of the microwave oven hoping it was baked to perfection. I was quite relieved once I got it out as it was fine, a little flat but fine. The frosting on the cake was done in time and kept in the refrigerator for a while.

 
Ingredients:
* tsp- teaspoon
*tbsp- tablespoon

For the cake:
2 cups sugar
13/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa( or any unsweetened cocoa)
11/2 tsp baking powder
11/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting:
400 ml whipping cream
1/2- 3/4 cup sugar

Procedure:

For the cake:

• Mix all the dry ingredients- sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt together in a bowl and set aside.
• Beat the eggs, milk and oil together separately in a bowl. Add spoon by spoon of the mixture of dry ingredients and  beat constantly.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180 C /350 F. Prepare 2 9-inch baking pans by applying a small amount of butter and the surface of the pan and then dusting it with flour.
• Add the vanilla essence. Make sure the sugar is dissolved properly. If not, beat for 2 more minutes.
• Add the boiling water slowly. After adding a small amount mix the batter. And keep adding until the end. You will see a liquidy batter.
• Keep the pans in the microwave at a temperature of 180 C/ 350 F for about 40 minutes.
• After about 25-30 minutes keep checking the cake at regular intervals. While checking, use a sharp pointed knife and it in the centre of the cake. After removing it if there is any batter or cake sticking to the knife, the cake has to be baked longer. Make sure the the knife comes out spotless clean and only then switch off the microwave.
• Remove the cake pans and allow them to rest on a wire rack
• Allow the cake to cool completely and then flip the cake upside down. If the cake comes out of the pan easily, its perfect. But if it doesn't, let it cool for a little longer.
• Take out the cake and occasionally sprinkle it with sugar water( to moisten the cake).

Now for the frosting:

• Pour the whipping cream in a deep bottomed container. Beat it till you get soft peaks.
• Add the sugar and beat further. A nice creamy frosting should form. Keep it to refrigerate for about 1 hour.
• After sometime apply a thick layer of frosting on the cake and finish it off with necessary decorations.

Hope you find this useful !