Piece of Cake

I was craving chocolate cake.  I do not know why but I was.  It could be because I spotted this recipe in a magazine while I was waiting for a slow leaking tire to be repaired.  I was hungry, the worst time to grocery shop or peruse recipes.  Everything looks good when you’re hungry. All the recipes were tempting but I focused on chocolate cake.  Did you ever find yourself in that situation?  Slowly, deliberately, walking the aisles of your local grocery store tossing Cheez-It’s, Fig Newtons, Hostess Twinkies, bags full of fruit and veggies, grapefruit & cranberry juice, cheese, crackers, nuts and assorted other items that you may or may not normally consume, into your basket because at that time, it all looks good?  At the very moment you pass the cookie and cracker isle your stomach gives a little growl and your mouth waters just a little at the site of all those cookies and crackers, so you toss in a few.  Arriving home you wonder how you ended up with so many bags full of “stuff” and as you unpack you open a box here, a package there, and snack as you go. Finding yourself finally full, for the time being, you realize you really didn’t want all that junk anyway – you really wanted lunch!  Lucky for me I was at the tire place.

This cake did not turn out to be a pretty cake but oh is it tasty!  Moist and dense chocolate cake, that I’ll tell you would be fine without icing.  I iced it, but the cake is the winner here.  It turned out a little lopsided, and the icing was thick and runny at the same time.  None the less it tastes swell. It is the easiest cake I’ve ever made; 2 bowls and a whisk.  Minimal mess!  Next time I’ll try a different icing as I’m not as happy with my icing as I’d hoped.  I made basic confectioners sugar icing.  Try  your favorite icing recipe when you make it or try it with no icing and a cup of hot coffee.  It’s a winner.

This weekend I’ll be preparing chili for the Central Market chili cook-off.  The competition is on Sunday.  Wish me luck!

All is well in the bee yard at this time.  Busy bees carrying pollen and nectar back to the hive.  Queen Heidi busy laying eggs and being fed and groomed by her ladies in waiting. They are ramping up for the honey bounty.  I am too!

Enjoy!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee, at room temperature
2/3 cup canola oil
2 large egg whites
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350*.  Coat 2 9′ round cake pans with cooking spray.  Cover the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper and coat with cooking spray.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl, whisking well. In a separate bowl combine coffee, oil, egg whites, vinegar, and vanilla, whisking well. Combine coffee mixture with flour mixture, whisking until smooth.  Divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans; tap pans on work surface to break air pockets.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean.  30-35 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks for 20 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges of cakes; invert cakes onto cooling racks.  Remove parchment if necessary and cool completely before icing.