CHOCOLATE CAKE

There is not much difference between a plain sponge cake and a chocolate cake both in terms of ingredients and the procedure.

To make a chocolate cake, I add one heaped tablespoon of chocolate powder along with maida/wheat flour and baking powder while sieving. Secondly, instead of pineapple essence, I add vanilla essence while beating the eggs. I use both chocolate essence and vanilla essence.  But if you do not have chocolate essence,  just  vanilla essence will do. In bakeries they add chocolate colouring agent also and so those cakes look dark. Since I do not use that my chocolate  cakes are not that dark.

Ingredients:

Maida/wheat flour                                               1 cup

Egg                                                                      1 powdered

Sugar                                                                    2/3 cup (to be)

Butter                                                                   100 gms/2/3 cup

Vanilla essence                                                     Few drops

Chocolate powder                                                1 heaped tablespoon

Slivered almond/pista                                          1 tablespoon

Grated chocolate /choco chips                             1 tablespoon

Procedure:

Sieve flour with baking powder and chocolate powder.

Grind sugar to fine powder

Grease baking tray and dust it with flour (the aluminum/hindalium container used to make rice in a pressure cooker will do)

Preheat the oven for about five minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Now break the eggs into a bowl, add essence and beat immediately till very light.

Continue to run the mixer while adding butter, sugar powder and the flour slowly and one after another. Continue whisking for 2 more minutes. The batter should have a dropping consistency, may be a bit thinner than the idli batter. If you feel it is hard, you can add one or two tablespoons of milk and beat.

Transfer this ready batter to the baking tray and sprinkle almond/pista pieces and grated chocolate and/or chocochips

Bake for about 45 minutes at 180 degree Celcius.  The top of the cake becomes dark towards the end. To confirm whether the cake is baked fully, insert a knitting needle or a sharp knife in the center of the cake. It this comes out clean, it means that the cake is done. If some batter sticks to it, bake for 5 or 10 minutes more. Leave the cake in the oven for four or five minutes. Remove from the oven,  cool it to room temperature and the, invert the tray and transfer the cake on to a plate and then reverse it again.

Your cake is ready!