One bowl chocolate cake

ONE BOWL CHOCOLATE CAKE

This recipe is a delight to make. Simple and reasonably quick, with not too much washing up to do.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating.  I have made it 3 times now with slight variations, but each time gone, within a flash. It is best to have the butter and eggs at room temperature, but if the mood takes you quickly to make it, just soften butter in microwave.  I have an older gas oven, so with most recipes, you need to experiment a little to see what suits your oven to get best results. Definitely a recipe to have in your repertoire either as a cake or as small patty pan cakes.

UTENSILS REQUIRED
1 large sized mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Sifter 
Tablespoon
Teaspoon

hand mixer or mixer.
spatula. 
20 cm cake tin

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups of sifted Self Raising Flour.

pinch of bi carbonate of soda.
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1/4/ cup of custard powder.
I cup of caster sugar
1/2 cup of milk
2 Eggs ( room temperature)
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.
I cup of icing sugar ( sifted).
2 tablespoons of cocoa for icing.
2 tablespoons of butter ( softened).

METHOD

1. Combine sifted self raising Flour, custard powder, cocoa,
bi- carbonate of soda and sugar with the softened butter, milk, eggs and vanilla essence in a roomy mixing bowl on medium speed for 8 minutes.

2. Spoon into a greased and lines 20cm round tin.

3. Bake in a moderate oven on 180 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until cooked.  Cool on a wire wrack for 10 minutes before turning out.


ICING:

1. Sift icing sugar and extra cocoa.  
2. Stir in the butter and enough hot water to make a thick icing .
3.  Ice and decorate. Store in airtight tin until required. 

VARIATIONS:

1. I have used this recipe 3 times now. The first time, I made it exactly.  The outcome was fine.  However I wanted to experiment further.  On the second time, I sprayed the tin but did not line it. 
I only beat it with a hand mixer for 4 minutes until the mixture changes colour and becomes lighter). 

I cooked it  in a 160 degrees fan forced for 40 minutes.  You can check it at 40 minutes and perhaps leave in another 5 minutes if necessary.  Texture is more towards a light sponge mixture, rather than a heavy dense mud cake like mixture.

On the third occasion, I was in a huge hurry, so I softened the butter in the microwave, rather than leaving out for a few hours, used patty pan trays instead and made 24 patty pans (cake size not muffin size). I put them in the  pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at 160 fan forced. They were great. Obviously allow at least 10 minutes for them to cool in the patty pan trays, before taking out onto a wire wrack. Ice when cool. 

Decorate  to your taste if you wish, or just dust or ice without decorations.

Enjoy the washing up- I don't have a dishwasher, so it is a breeze to wash up for this recipe. I also enjoy having the kettle boiling for a ''cuppa'' to do the taste test (for patty pan cakes) out of the 3 experiments.

Standby Chocolate cake.

I was taking an older lady shopping in Coles the other day and walked past the cake mixes to get another item for my lady friend.    When I use a packet mix, I prefer to use White wings, but as this Coles brand packet was only $2,  I thought I would buy it.

Yesterday, I cleaned out my pantry cupboards and sorted my baking tins.  Mum was a great cook, so she had tins for this, and tins for that and tins for every occasion.  After sorting them all out and going down memory lane remembering what mum used to make in that tin, I decided to make use of one of her tins that I had not used before.  

As I need to take a plate for morning tea for Sunday, I decided to try out this Coles Chocolate cake packet mix. So although this is not mum's recipe, I used one of her tins- a round 20 cm tin (8 inch) with a cut out in the middle, one I have not used previously.

Observations:

It is a very simple Chocolate cake recipe of course, being a packet mix with the need to only add

•  1/2 cup milk, 
• 2 eggs
• 80g butter.

When I first opened the chocolate mixture, it looked quite lumpy, but as I had already poured it into my bowl, I decided that perhaps for a future occasion, I would sift it.  No need  to do this as once you add the ingredients and combine it with an electric mixer- first 1 minute slowly and then 2 minutes on high speed, the mixture comes out quite smooth.  However, for a much smoother effect, I would probably sift the packet mix for a future occasion.  

Then into the oven for 45 minutes. There is also icing mixture with the packet with the cook adding 30g butter and milk.  

Keep you posted on its progress but if  you need a chocolate cake for unexpected guests or for taking a plate, it is worth having this packet in the pantry. There are only milk, eggs and and butter to add.  As I don't drink milk, I used powdered milk and made up the right quantity. I always have eggs and butter in the house. 

UPDATE ON THE STANDBY CHOCOLATE CAKE.

I took my chocolate cake along to morning tea, along with sultana cake and jelly slices.  Interesting enough the chocolate cake was the first to go and I was flat out getting a piece to try.
This cake is not a light chocolate cake like a sponge like mixture, but not like a mud cake either.  It is somewhere in between the two, but with quite a dense mixture. It was indeed quite tasty and no one knew it was a packet mix. Some asked for the recipe!!

The icing is a glaze icing not a frosted icing.  I used water by mistake in the icing, but I think milk would definitely make it thicker and bind it easier. Make sure your butter is already at room temperature.

As I said, it is definitely worth having in the pantry to be able to make in a hurry.  It is a Coles brand packet mix and obviously can only be brought at Coles. I brought it on special for $2.

Very simple Sausage Rolls

SAUSAGE ROLLS.

It would have been Mum's 90th birthday on Tuesday, so I felt in the mood to do some cooking to celebrate her memory. Mum used to make sausage rolls making her own mince of course.  However this is not her recipe.  When I find her recipe, I will add it to the collection.  

There are many recipes for sausage rolls on the internet, but as I had not made sausage rolls before, I was looking for a very simple recipe. 

SAUSAGE ROLLS

Ingredients

500g Sausage mince
1 ½  tablespoons of finely chopped parsley or  1 finely chopped small onion
1 teaspoon salt
½  teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon of Worchester sauce or 1 dessertspoon of sweet chilli sauce.
1 egg (beaten)

3 sheets of puff pastry

Milk for glazing. ( about 1/4 cup)

Method

Prep: 20 minutes. Cook for 20 minutes fan-forced. (30 min not fan forced)

1.      Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius fan forced *

2.      Lightly grease baking or biscuits trays.

3.      Mix mince, parsley (or onion), salt and  black pepper in a large bowl.

4.      Beat egg and add to mince mixture. Do not mix yet.

5.      Add in Worchester sauce to mince mixture and combine well.    If you are using Sweet chilli sauce instead of Worchester sauce, only use 1 dessertspoon not a tablespoon as the mixture will be too wet.

6.      Cut each pastry sheet into 3 equal sized pieces lengthwise.

7.      Make a roll of the mince lengthways on the centre of each piece.   Do not use too much mixture as you will find it difficult for the pastry to meet.

8.      Using a Pastry brush, brush the edges of the pastry on each side on the mince strip with milk

9.      Roll each strip firmly making sure that the mixture is tucked in with the first rolling of the pastry then firmly roll the second side so that the pastry meets.

10.  Brush the top with milk.

11.  Trim edges if required and then cut each long roll into small or average size sausage rolls depending on what you prefer.

12.  Place on the greased oven trays.  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on 200 degrees fan forced oven.  *If you do not have a fan forced oven, bake them for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

I adapted this recipe as I was going along. I used one small onion finely chopped instead of parsley and Sweet Chilli Sauce instead of Worchester Sauce.  I actually used a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce, but for future occasions, I will only use 1 dessertspoon as the mixture, I think was too wet making it difficult to roll into sausage shapes.

I also discovered that it is best to make sure that the mixture is tucked in under the pastry as you roll the first side of the pastry. Too much mixture means it is hard to roll and for the pastry to meet together. Some recipes also suggest cutting the pastry into 4 equal sized pieces lengthways.

Despite the wet mixture and the fiddling around with the pastry, the sausage rolls went into the oven. The first batch were slightly burnt ( baked for 30 min on 200 fan forced) but the second and third tray came out of the oven beautifully. I adjusted the timing to 20 minutes fan forced on 200 degrees celcius.  The mixture made 40 small to average sized sausage rolls.

I waited for them to cool and then froze them thinking  that I would have them for a future event, but alas, they tasted so good even without tomato sauce (ketchup) on a cold day that they are now all gone in just 2 days.

If you are short of ingredients, you could adapt this recipe further by leaving out the parsley or onion. You would need some type of sauce I think as otherwise  the mixture would be too dry but you could try it and see what you think.  If it works without the sauce, then please let me know.

SAUSAGE ROLL UPDATE 21/7/14
I just made these sausage rolls again and thought I would update you on  my variation of today.

I added 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of parsley as well as a small carrot grated.
I only used 1 desertspoon of Sweet Chilli sauce.
I also added a 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs.

I have now put the sausage rolls in the oven with 36 sausage rolls made and mixture left over.  I have to wait until they come out of the oven before going up the street to get some more pastry.  Making them with these ingredients obviously goes further so you need more than 3 pastry sheets. Using only one desertspoon of sweet chilli sauce meant that the mixture was not as wet as the above recipe, meaning that it was easier to handle.

I also found that if you take a teaspoon of mixture and roll it into a little sausage and lay it finger width in the pastry means that it is easier for the pastry to fold appropriately. Obviously, you dont want to be mean with the mixture, but making the pastry meet without mixture oosing is very important.

Mum's Lemon Butter recipe

Mum would often make Lemon Butter.  We had a lemon tree so lemons were always plentiful.
Mum's Lemon Butter  was always so delicious that it often did not get into a dish- a couple of mouthfuls of lemon butter from the jar was delightful taste in itself.  Mum's recipe is slightly different from my aunt's recipe. Both recipes work well, so it is a matter of choice which you prefer in taste and what ingredients you have available.

 MUM'S LEMON BUTTER

INGREDIENTS:

2 Lemons.                             

2 Eggs.

2oz Butter.                            

½ lb of Sugar.

METHOD:

1. Wipe lemons, grate rind, using only the yellow part.  Squeeze the lemon juice.

2. Beat eggs, and add the grated rind, juice, sugar and butter.
Then add all ingredients to a pot (double preferably).*

3. Cook over boiling water, stirring until the butter dissolves, and then occasionally.

4. Cook for 3-5 minutes, after the lemon butter begins to thicken. It will change to a lighter colouring.
 

5. Pour into prepared jars and seal as for jam.

 

NB: Mum worked in pounds and ounces in those days. The equivalent would be:

2 oz of Butter= 56.7 GRAMS.

1/2 lb of Sugar=  226.80 GRAMS. 

Mum said it was important only to use the lemon part of the lemon as the pith ( white part) can be bitter. Before zesting, she used to scrub the fruit with a sponge and warm, soapy water. then she would rinse it well and dry it with a paper towel.  She always had the lemon at room temperature.  However nowadays, if you want to bring it to room temperature quickly and get more juice from your lemons, then place in microwave for 10-20 seconds before use.

When Mum was using lemons for both zest and juice, she used to grate the zest first and then squeeze the juice.  When grating lemon peel,  she used to cover the zest side of the grater with plastic wrap and grate the lemon over the plastic wrap. Most of the zest  remained on the plastic wrap and  did not  stick in the holes of the grater.  She used to pull the plastic wrap off and shake the zest onto a plate. Mum favoured getting the most out of her ingredients and also anything that meant easier washing up afterwards.

*Variation
I use just one pot but I spray it lightly but carefully before use. Obviously it means you have to watch the cooking process more diligently- one look away and it can be burnt lemon butter in an instant. So don't look away for a moment if you use this method.  When I double the recipe, I prefer to use a double pot method.

Aunt Kath's Lemon Butter Recipe.

MY AUNT'S LEMON BUTTER RECIPE.

My Aunt gave some lemon butter to Dad. Dad loved it and asked for the recipe so that I could make it for him.  She was amused as I was caring for both mum and dad at the time and wondered when I would be able to make it. 

Ingredients

2 Large lemons,

2 Rounded dessertspoons of butter,

½ (half) lb sugar,

2 eggs.

Method

1. Wash lemons, remove any blemish on rind.
2. Grate rind, strain juice.
3. Beat eggs lightly.
4. Put all ingredients into a saucepan (double preferred)
5. Stir until mixture thickens.
6. Lower heat when mixture begins to bubble.
7. Allow to simmer for a few minutes.
8. Cool, pour into sterilized jars.