One of the first things I can remember helping mum make is her Nan’s chocolate cake in her trusty old sunbeam mixer (circa early 70s). The job allocated to my sister and I was the sifting – something I have tried to carry on with my 19 month old with limited success!
30 years later this is still my one of my favourite recipes when I need to make a quick cake. Nowadays I try to make it a bit healthier – swapping butter for light spread and using skinny milk. Whilst this is still a winner, there is nothing like the original recipe ingredients. All ingredient amounts are in imperial measurements (I’ve added conversions in brackets).
Nana Doug's Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 3 oz 85g butter
- 2 tablespoons of cocoa
- 6 oz 175g castor sugar
- 6 oz 175g self raising Flour
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoons vanilla essence
- ½ cup of milk
- ICING
- 2 Tablespoons of Cocoa
- ½ Cup of Icing Mixture
- 1 Teaspoon of Butter
- 3 - 4 Table spoons of boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 170 degrees (fan forced) and line the base of a loaf tin.
- Melt the butter in the microwave and set aside to cool slightly.
- Sift flour and cocoa into the bowl of an electric mixer, then add all the other ingredients.
- Beat for approximately 4 minutes until ingredients have all combined and the mixture is smooth.
- Pour into the cake tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool in the tin for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Chocolate Icing:
- Place Cocoa, Icing Mixture and Butter/Marg into a small bowl
- Start by adding 2 tablespoons of boiling water to bowl and mixing together using a spoon
- Continue to add water until desired consistency is achieved - icing should still be thick enough to easily spread over cake without running everywhere
** This cake can be frozen, I’ve even frozen it before when iced and it has defrosted well.
Leave a Reply