Home-made Moist Chocolate Cake for My Mom’s Birthday

Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
2 cups                                  All Purpose Flour
2 cups                                  Sugar
3/4 cups                               Cocoa Powder (I used the Tulip Brand)
2 teaspoons                           Baking Soda
1 teaspoon                            Salt

Wet Ingredient
2 pieces                                Eggs

1 cup                                    Milk
1 cup                                    Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup                                 Mayo

1 Tablespoon                        Instant Coffee dissolved in
1 cup                                    Warm Water
1 teaspoon                            Vanilla

Icing
1 can                                     Condensed Milk (I used Alaska Condensed Milk.  Next time I’ll used 
                                             Milkmade to see the difference)
2 oz                                       Bittersweet Chocolate (Use unsweetened chocolate to reduced the 
                                              sweetness.  I used bittersweet because its the only chocolate I have now.)
2 Tablespoons                         Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
pinch                                     Rock Salt
2 Tablespoons                        Butter

Procedure for the Cake

1.  Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.  Combine dry ingredients and shift to remove lumps.  Whisk with a wire whisk to combine all the dry ingredients.

2.  Beat eggs, milk, oil and mayo until well incorporated.  Add coffee-water mixture and vanilla.  Mix gently.

3.  Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients 1/4 cup at a time with medium stirring, just enough to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

4.  When all the dry ingredients are mixed into the wet ingredients, transfer in 3 pieces 8 x 8 round baking pan. Give it a gentle tap just to remove some bubbles and give your batter at least 15 minute rest.  (I usually rest my batter after giving it a few taps to give time for the bubbles at the bottom of the pan to rise.)
Pop in the oven and bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. (18 minutes works for me)


How to Prepare Your Pan?
Cut a round parchment paper, the size of the bottom of the pan (I used regular bond paper as I run out of parchment paper).  Grease the sides of the pan and sprinkle flour until the sides are covered with flour.

5.  Cool the cakes in a wire rack for 30 minutes before removing the cake form the pan.  (I forgot to take photo of my just-baked round cakes but mine got domed.  So what I did was to trim the two batches of the cake to removed the dome and used the other one as is, as it will be my top layer.)


Procedure for the Icing
1.  Combine the condensed milk, chocolate and cocoa powder in a pan.  Heat over low heat with continuous stirring for 7 minutes.  Add rock salt and stir for another 2 minutes.  Then add the butter and stir for another 1  minute, all in all a 10 minute process.  Pour over cakes while still hot.

To Assemble
1.  Place the bottom layer on your cake rack.  Pour 1/4 cup of the icing over the first layer and spread.  This will serve as an adhesive for the first and second layer.
2.  Place the second layer over the first layer with the icing layer on in.  Pour another 1/4 cup of the icing over the second layer and spread.
3.  Place the top layer.  pour all of the remaining icing and spread all over the top and side.  Cool for another 30 minutes before topping with shaved chocolates or decorate it as you wish.  (As you can see, I have a poor artistic side, so I just spread the icing over the top and side and topped it with chopped bittersweet chocolate.)

HOW DOES IT TASTE?
I liked the moistness this chocolate cake and I think I should add more mayo, about another half cup, to add more moistness to it like Ms. Polly’s Chocolate Cake.  (I don’t know if my sister is joking, but when she tasted it she had this “Mmmmm!” moment and commented it’s like the chocolate cake of red ribbon – minus the design.) The icing, is really good and I think I should have used unsweetened chocolate as my mom find it too sweet, but for me it’s about 70% closer to Ms. Polly’s Icing.  I like its consistency, the sticky, sweet and chocolaty flavor.  But I think next time I’ll add another tablespoon of cocoa powder for more chocolaty flavor (I want my chocolate cake icing to have that chocolaty flavor to die for).


All in all, I think this is a good recipe for a first timer (minus the decoration of the cake – I think I should enroll in cake decoration).   Maybe next time, instead of doing three layers, I’ll just divide the batter into two portion or two layer and increase its cooking time by 25 to 30 minutes.