38 commentsI decided — a spur of the moment thing — to do some baking today. It’s been a while, but after raiding my Mum’s for baking tins and a reminder about ingredient quantities I set to it.
The cake itself is based on a traditional British pound cake, so named because it was originally created with a pound of flour, butter, eggs and sugar. I didn’t have scales and I certainly didn’t need several lbs of ingredients (or have a bowl to mix it in) but as long as the quantities are identical the concept is the same.
I used a big spoon to measure out my ingredients (you don’t have to be precise) and for the bottom layer, I substituted half a spoon of sugar for half of drinking chocolate for chocolatey colour and taste. The top layer stayed plain. Both were cooked in round cake trays, I’d guess those are 12-13″ at 160 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, but my ‘new’ oven is fan assisted and I’ll still getting used to it.
I cooled them on a rack from inside the oven because I don’t have a proper cooling rack, and layered them with a filling of chocolatey buttercream style icing. I didn’t have icing sugar (always forget something) so I improvised based on a recipe from chowhound (jdub1371’s reply).
Finished product doesn’t look too bad, although in the heat of the kitchen the filling was already starting to separate. Bottom layer is a tiny bit charred around the edges but a sharp knife should see to that. I’ll let you know how it tastes after my little geeky housewarming shindig tomorrow :9
Aisling said:
On March 28, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Ooh, baking! *claps* I LOVE baking!! I have a chocolate cake recipe I thoroughly enjoy- it only involves ONE bowl. I love the minimal amount of dishes it creates! And it is SO yummy, and chocolatey. I randomly whip one up on a random basis. Your cake looks good, I bet it will taste great!! Have a great housewarming! :D
Peter Green said:
On March 28, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Oh chocolate cake! I make it all the time to the same recipe, though I use old balance scales using the eggs as the weight to measure everything else against. I make my own bread too, you can’t beat it! Can you e-mail me some of yours to taste, maybe as an attachment? :-)
Amber said:
On March 28, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I can’t believe you managed without scales! (Aha, I knew they were called scales. The word just defied me when I was writing about my brownies — they were then “measuring bowl, erm, thingies, you know?”) I don’t think I’ve ever had a pound cake before.
Amelie said:
On March 28, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Aw, how sweet, you baked me a cake. I will be round to collect it shortly. >:P
Janet said:
On March 29, 2008 at 12:02 am
Ooh! Yum. I hope it’s really good and that you enjoy it.
Ang said:
On March 29, 2008 at 12:08 am
MM CAKE.
Katy said:
On March 29, 2008 at 12:25 am
shotgun a non-charred bit :P
Robmarie said:
On March 29, 2008 at 1:04 am
I used to *love* baking! It’s such a shame that my oven doesn’t work — although I’ve heard stories of cakes being “baked” in microwave ovens and whatnot. I think it’s all an urban legend, but maybe one day I’ll try it out — I miss licking cake batter! =P
Zatanna said:
On March 29, 2008 at 1:08 am
Chocolate is delicious! *drulls* I want to make one now! I add rum to my chocolate cakes.XD
Belinda said:
On March 29, 2008 at 2:05 am
Mmm yay I love baking! The cake looks delicious, not exactly very chocolatey looking (since it’s not very brown in the picture) but it looks like a mouth-watering pie or something. Great work!
Chien Yee said:
On March 29, 2008 at 3:16 am
*drools* I’ve always loved cake! Give me some (if it’s delicious, or alternatively, you can help me to get food poisoning) XP
Niki said:
On March 29, 2008 at 4:11 am
Unfortunately, I’m lactose intolerant =( Omgz! The sidebar!
Baohan said:
On March 29, 2008 at 4:40 am
Cake…cake…chocolate cake. I love them all..
Mumblies said:
On March 29, 2008 at 9:21 am
Turned out fine by the looks of it Jem, now if only you had used self raising flour then it would have risen all by itself, you can use plain flour but then you need to add bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) But even so, it looks delish and will quite probably taste the same. Psssst… I had icing sugar too, why didn’t you ask lol
Sarah said:
On March 29, 2008 at 10:39 am
This reminds me, I need to do some more baking. Yummy!
Brigitte said:
On March 29, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Slightly burnt but still looks like fun!
Mike Haddad said:
On March 29, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Chocolate cake and chocolate pies – that is how you get VERY BIG THIGHS.
Sarai said:
On March 29, 2008 at 4:06 pm
God, I wish I could bake delicious treats. :(
Carly said:
On March 29, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Oooh looks absolutly yummy to me! Yum yum.
Frutee said:
On March 29, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I envy you for being able to bake! I cant bake at all. lmao. :P
Kaylee said:
On March 29, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Ahh, that looks good! I don’t know why, but I’m always more attracted to the batter than the cake itself. I plan on baking a cake today, but I have to be precise when measuring ingredients!
Hev said:
On March 29, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Looks good, Jem.
Josh said:
On March 29, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I did something similar to this once. Except it was apple pie. And I stupidly decided that it would be o.k. to set the oven timer and NOT check up on the pie. :( The top was burnt. So I basically ate the whole thing by myself.
Stephanie said:
On March 30, 2008 at 12:40 am
I
Katy said:
On March 30, 2008 at 12:47 am
shame the other chocolate cake didn’t come out quite so well :P hehehe
Jordan said:
On March 30, 2008 at 1:09 am
The cake is a lie! /end portal joke :P
Connie said:
On March 30, 2008 at 1:23 am
woo, the layers look nicee and yummyy
Christine said:
On March 30, 2008 at 1:54 am
mmm, nom nom! looks a tiny bit crisp but all the better! just add some ice cream.
Kachii said:
On March 30, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Cakes are so quick and easy to make and I usually have the ingredients lying around my house anyway, so I often make cakes at the spur of the moment ;)
Lil said:
On March 30, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Cookery, gardening and house cats – I think your title has shifted from ‘php ninja’ to ‘domestic queen’ :p The golden colour on that cake looks so damn good. I’m tempted to make my own cake now despite being a culinary deficient. Using a pound of each ingredient to make a pound cake was somewhat of a revelation to me. Perhaps I should just demand food rather than make it.
Scott said:
On March 30, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Oh god, that cake looks lovely! I can’t make anything to save my life… lol!
Mae said:
On March 31, 2008 at 2:05 am
wish I could do something even close to that hehehe
Chantelle said:
On March 31, 2008 at 4:32 am
I only use the oven in my house once every few months (if that) XD because baking isn’t my thing. But your cake looks tasty. *eats*
adastra said:
On March 31, 2008 at 7:13 am
Looks yummy! I wish my kitchen was big enough to allow me to do some baking. Unfortunately I only get around to do it when I visit my parents…
Robbie said:
On March 31, 2008 at 8:22 am
Looks quite tasty :) Perhaps I shall bake a cake today and send you a picture…
Louise said:
On March 31, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Mmm that looks tasty. I want cake now.
Melissa said:
On March 31, 2008 at 1:34 pm
*craves* Ohh…chocolate. O.o
Jem said:
On March 31, 2008 at 6:56 pm
testing a comments problem…