No Fail Chocolate Cake
I always love to make this chocolate cake because it’s so simple and it turns out right every time. I’ve been making this cake for years but I definitely made it the most when my girls were still in school, a few years ago. They had the annoying habit of remembering quite late on the night before that they had to bring something in for a bake sale the next day. So I would make my no fail chocolate cake late at night before bed or early in the morning just before leaving for school as it can be made without much planning as the ingredients used are store cupboard staples.
Though this cake can be made with minimal effort and limited time, it doesn’t compromise on taste – it’s soft, light and just so yummy! Another plus is that since refined oil is used instead of butter, the cake will stay soft even if it’s been refrigerated.
An orange glaze on this otherwise simple cake lifts it up a notch. Adding a tablespoon of finely grated orange zest to the cake batter can also complement the glaze quite well. The glaze is simple enough to make: just mix a quarter of a cup of icing sugar or powdered sugar into half a cup of orange juice. If the glaze seems too watery, a bit more icing sugar will do the trick. I also add a couple of teaspoons of orange liqueur to the glaze if it’s not a cake destined for a bake sale 🙂
Served with a dollop of orange cream cheese or a scoop of ice cream, this is perfection.
Orange cream cheese can be made by mixing a quarter of a cup of cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice and 1 teaspoon of finely grated orange zest.
- Unsweetened cocoa ¾ cup
- All purpose flour 2 ¼ cup
- Sugar 1 ¾ cup
- Yoghurt1 ½ cup
- Vegetable oil 1 cup
- Baking soda 2 teaspoons
- Vanilla essence 1 ½ teaspoons
- Eggs 3 large
- Preheat oven to 180°C or 350° F.
- Grease a 9” round tin.
- Sift the flour with cocoa and baking soda twice.
- Combine all the wet ingredients including eggs well with an electric mixer.
- Add flour in small batches and blend well with mixer at slow speed.
- Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Check whether it is done by inserting a tooth pick into the cake and ensuring it comes back clean.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven onto a wire rack.
- Cool for 10 minutes and remove cake from the tin.
~Min