My 'warts and all' chocolate cake experiment

I'll post on just about anything I cook or bake, even if it's a 'warts and all' look at my failings. Having been afraid of cake baking for most of my cooking life, the sensation of messing with a recipe is both exhilarating and frightening. No need for me to abseil! Now, of recent years, I have stuck pretty much with Nigella for my cakes. The reason is straightforward, the recipes have never failed me, why wouldn't I stick with that which I can trust?

Brave I feel then, to not only be baking from a book that is untested, but change the recipe. So, I wont be able to blame the book if things don't work out I know, but if I am being honest, I am just feeling a bit devil-may-care. Taking advantage of this state of mind, knowing that the worst thing that can happen is that the cake wont work out. As all the ingredients are fine, the cake will be edible even if not worth making again.

The reason for this new book is wonderful I think. The Lovely Man had to travel interstate. He's a Robert Jordan fan, so he went and picked up the latest book in the series The Wheel of Time. He felt that since HE got a new book, I deserved one too. He arrived home then with his book, and Greek Cookery from the Hellenic Heart by George Calombaris. This though, is not the book I am cooking from. The bookshop had an offer where you spend $50.00 you get another book at a cheap price. He had a choice of a fishing book or a baking book. How lovely that, in spite of him being a fisherman part time (the fish are pretty safe I must say), he presents me with a second cook book. No specific writer, A Cook's Book of Decadence, Chocolate Coffee Caramel. The book seemed to open to the page that would win me over. This is the recipe I am messing with today. Not bothering with all the steps the book suggests and adding an extra spice, we shall see how I go:

Spiced Chocolate Cake

60g butter, softened
165g sugar
2 large eggs - room temperature
3 tbsp golden syrup
155g plain flour
30g cocoa
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch salt flakes
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
170ml milk - room temperature

Syrup
170ml water
110g sugar
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 180C. Line and lightly grease a 20cm round cake tin.

Put all the ingredients for the cake apart from the milk into a food processor. Whizz about until well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides in need. With the motor running, pour the milk down the funnel until the mixture is well combined.

Pour the cake batter into the tin and pop in the oven to bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean (mine took 40).

Put the cake, still in its' tin on a rack to cool and get on with the syrup.

Put the water, sugar and spices into a small saucepan and bring gently to the boil, making sure the sugar has dissolved before the syrup begins boiling. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it bubble away gently for about 15 minutes or until it's reduced by about half, stirring now and then.

Remove from the heat and allow it to cool slightly.

Stab the cooled cake with a skewer a few times before pouring over the warm syrup. Give the cake a chance to absorb the syrup a bit at a time, rather than pouring it all over at once.

When all of the syrup has been absorbed remove the cake from the tin.

Serves 8

The book suggests this cake is best eaten on the day it is made. I hope not. We shall do a taste test and I'll get back to you on that one!

Far from perfect, but certainly having potential. I think in my desire to cut corners by using a processor led to my first mistake. I increased the amount of baking powder by another 1/4 tsp. This I think, is the reason for my volcanic looking finished product. So I shall cut back to 1 1/4 tsp as above, rather than 1 1/2 tsp.

The annoying mistake I made comes from the syrup. The lousy, but true excuse about the two young Masters in my life that meant my syrup turned into dark caramel is simply fact. WHY I chose to pour it over the cake I don't know. I was hoping against hope that it would still sink in - Nope. It sat on the top and turned sticky-hard. Silly, silly girl. The flavour was fabulous, if only it was a syrup! The cake was deliciously soft and softly spiced. So, even without the syrup this is a worthwhile cake. Failure? Suppose so. Disappointed? Only in myself at not attending the syrup, and then again for not just binning it, and starting again. Not disappointed in the cake overall though. Rather pleased to tell the truth.

The syrup very clearly unable to sink into the cake! It set firmly and made it near impossible to cut the cake. Tasted pretty good though.