My Easy Chocolate Cake Recipes
What Makes a Chocolate Cake Remarkable?
You can't beat the smell of a chocolate cake just coming out of the oven. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Chocolate cake, for me, goes back a long way. Every one of my birthday cakes has been a chocolate cake in one form or another. That in itself should be enough, but still, chocolate cake is the ultimate dessert item whether at home or in a restaurant
Find within some of my favourite double chocolate cake recipes, and the stories that go with them.
I was first introduced to this cake when I was twelve. Dad was stationed in Chatham, N.B. It was a great culture shock for my Mom, who grew up on the west coast and in the prairies. She was stuck with four kids who were picky eaters as dad was away most of the time, and with a limited budget, Mom had to be creative.
She was a magician, making this cake disappear before telling us what was in it. You'll be surprised. Now, as I write out this recipe, you won't have the chance to experience it the way I did, but if you are brave enough to try...
Notice in my picture I couldn't wait to make the icing, I just sprayed on whipped cream and added cut strawberries because they are in season. I think the cake stores better with no icing as well.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup oil ( I used coconut oil)
- 1 19 oz can of beets ( drained and pureed in a blender)
- 6 Tbsp cocoa
- 1 1/4 cup unsifted flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 tsp peppermint extract
- ICING
- 2 Tbsp shortening
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 4 Tbsp cocoa
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 5 Tbsp hot water
- 3/4 tsp peppermint extract
In My Kitchen - You Need the Tools
Instructions
- To prepare the batter, combine the sugar and eggs to your stand mixer bowl. Mix until well blended. Add coconut oil, pureed beets and mix again. Stir in cocoa, flour baking soda salt, vanilla and peppermint extracts. Power up the beater on medium speed and mix it up for 2 minutes. This also gets much-needed air into the mix that will make you cake fluffy.
- Grease a 9"x9" cake pan. Dust it with more cocoa on the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out. Place in a 350F oven for 45-50 minutes. Do the toothpick test. Cool for ten minutes on a rack before turning out the cake to cool entirely before icing.
- To make the icing, cream together the butter, shortening and cocoa. Add sugar, salt peppermint extract and hot water and beat until smooth. Layer on the cake and enjoy it.
- Or if you are like me just cake and fresh whipped cream with strawberries is enough... see the photo of my latest creation.
Chocolate Cakes I Remember
Be Careful What You Wish For
I'll start this story by prefacing that you can't hold a six-year-old accountable.
When I was six, I loved seeing animals on TV. I loved watching the birds in the outdoor feeder. The year I turned six, a travelling zoo came to town. Not a circus, just a zoo. It was awesome. I had to be content only to see the animals from a distance as we didn't have the money to go inside. It was still a wonderful time.
My Mom was an animal lover too but couldn't abide by seeing animals caged or forced to do the things circus animals did way back then. I've never been to a real circus.
I'm a winter baby, being born just before Christmas. Sometimes that was not a good thing, and when it came to birthday parties, it hard to have the backyard fun my brother had with his summer parties. Most of my parties were indoors if I had a party at all.
The year of my sixth time passed the sun; Mom came up with a beautiful idea for a cake for me. She laboured on it for many days and doing that and keeping it a secret from me was quite a chore. It was a chocolate jellyroll cake made into a travelling zoo train. She felt bad we could go to the zoo this summer, so she made me one. Complete with tiny zoo animals, both one the icing of the cake and free-standing sugar animals.
I remember the cake very well, but what I don't know is how the jelly roll cake ended up sprayed all over the basement walls. According to the story, my Mom had a birthday party with just me, my best friend's neighbour and my brothers. She had to answer the phone upstairs, back then there were no cordless phones. When she came back to disaster, it was another six years before I had another birthday cake. I don't recall what happened. I hope it was fun.
Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Here is another delicious chocolate cake recipe pulled from my Mom's old recipe book. Her recipe book is a former Air Force Flight Checklist binder full of clippings and handwritten notes. She passed down lots of family recipes that bring back memories. Though I love that Maritimers Mint Cake better, this one is equally moist and tasty.
Cook Time
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45-60 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 Tbsp unsweeten Cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 room temperture eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar (or sugar substitute)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup Mayonnaise
- 1 cup warm water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and powder two 9" round cake pans or one 9"x13" pan. ( I use more cocoa to powder the greased pan instead of flour, so you don't see the white powder on the finished product)
- Room temperature eggs beat up fluffier, so warm your eggs. Beat the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Slowly mix in the mayonnaise.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder together in a separate bowl.
- Add flour mixture alternately with water into the mixer bowl. ( As usual start and end with flour )
- Pour into prepared pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes if using the round cake pans.
- Bake for 40 minutes if using the rectangle pan.
- Use the toothpick test to check if is done. If it comes out clean when inserted in the center.
- Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Let cool completing (if you can) before you frost it.
Kitchen Hints
Even if you are not making chocolate cake recipes from scratch, try replacing the oil in a cake mix recipe with equal parts applesauce. It improves the taste and gets the fat out. It's a healthier choice.
