I guess cake are arguably by far the most favourite happy food ever invented..

There is just some thing about them that makes you happy… I mean I walk into a bakery shop and all I can do is just drool over the lovely cakes and the decorations

Paul Bakery  and Patisserie Valerie being my two favourite in London and our very own Oberoi Bakery here in Delhi.. The cakes the decor are just so so inviting..

The best thing about cakes is if you bake them with your own hands.. There is so much satisfaction in it.. I mean it is like your baby, you created it.. except you eat it up afterwards..

My tryst with baking goes back long.. My Grandma (dad’s mum) use to bake regularly simple easy cakes, I still remember the aroma of cherry cakes that she would bake and every Sunday that use to be my treat.. My dad took it up from granny and despite his busy schedule he would manage to bake some every now and then… Not just that, my Great grandma ( mum’s maternal grandma) learned baking from the Dutch missionaries and I have heard that in her days she was a pretty good Bread maker.. So you see  the baking thing flows in my blood.. but that is not to say that I am some kind of Baking goddess..  (i.e. I am no Rachel Allen) but I try my hands in making cakes and well most of the times they turn out alright…

Now there are zillion types of cakes with zillion different flavours.. But for me Chocolate is perhaps the best and it has stood the test of time.. A chocolate cake never fails to impress, cheer and spread joy…

So last night when I got home from work.. I was in the mood for a nice dessert.. Raided the fridge.. found there was vanilla Ice-cream so the only thing missing was a good chocolate cake.. Therefore the nest logical step was to procure some and by that I mean, bake from scratch…

Chocolate cake with vanilla sugar dusting

You would need

180 gms of flour (well sifted)

180gms of caster sugar

180 gm of white butter

5 eggs

baking powder 1.5 tea spoon

Dark Chocolate 150 gms ( broken into pieces)..

Icing sugar to dust

Vanilla essense..

Pre-heat the oven to 170 deg Celsius. Line a spring form tin. now cream the butter and the sugar together.. Mean while melt the chocolate in a double boiler or double boiler style.. Let the chocolate cool a little.. Do not leave it for too long as it begins to harden. Once you have creamed the butter and sugar, add the eggs one by one and in between beat the mixture.. Finally sift the flour in and beat it before pouring in the chocolate.. Lastly, add the baking powder and give it one more quick beat before pouring it into the cake tin and into the oven. Leave in to bake for 40 mins. Insert a wooden skewer to see if ti comes out clean or is still runny.. If so, leave it to cook for another 5-7 mins and then turn off the oven and let it stand for another 5 mins.. Bring the cake out and cool it on a wire rack.

In another bowl take enough icing sugar.. Put 3-4 drops of vanilla essence, just enough to flavour it .. too much essence will turn the mixture into a paste.. Now place the cake on a plate and pour the sugar mixture through a sieve to dust the cake evenly.. carry on till the cake is fully covered and then take a spoon full or even more Nutella or any other chocolate spread (any flavour) and drop it n the center of the cake..  There you have it Chocolate cake with vanilla sugar dusting..

After I saw the cake I was too tempted to have it by it self and I gave up the idea of vanilla Ice-cream.. Trust me the cake works as a great 4 am snack.. I had one last night..

P.S. I have done 2 cakes in a week so now it is time to graduate to cup cakes.. that too will come soon…      😀