Dark Chocolate Cake

After such a long break from baking chocolate cakes, I made some dark chocolate cake with some chocolate cheese frosting a few days ago using the recipe below that I have always used and without fail result in a wonderful and moist cake.

Just thought I should put it under my recipes label (For the Tastebuds) with a picture of the cake (even if it is the last 1/4 of it!).

This recipe is very good and very easy - it is highly recommended. There is a slight presence of soda taste right after baking but somehow, after at least 1 day later this taste will disappear in my opinion. This cake is moist and the chocolate cheese frosting goes very, very well with it. I normally bake this cake in 2 baking tins and sandwich both cakes with the frosting in the middle - the measurement for the frosting below is enough to do this.

For the pic above, I did not have enough cocoa powder left for the frosting so I guess that's why the colour of the frosting is not too dark. But the taste, I guarantee you, will make up for this.

As usual, with my plain butter knife doubling as my icing spatula, I can't seem to do the frosting on the side of the cake right (I think I need more practice with this frosting thing but my weight is increasing at an alarming rate due to all these cakes, so HOW..??) and instead just used a fork to do some err..'patterns'...

**Terasa segan lah pulak because many of my friends are getting so good at baking and cake deco!**

Anyway, here's the recipe for anyone who's interested in baking such a cake. It's really easy - Try it!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsps baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease 2 - 9 inch round cake pans. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spread batter evenly between the 3 prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until you get a clean stick when cake is poked at the centre. Allow to cool.

Chocolate Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 225g cream cheese, softened
• 4 tbls milk
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:
In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese, 3 tablespoons milk, icing sugar, butter, vanilla, cocoa, and cinnamon to a spreadable consistency. Add in additional milk if necessary. For a darker frosting add more cocoa or up to 100 gms of melted chocolate. Spread onto cooled cake.