This is my fail-safe chocolate cake – a recipe that exists in an exercise book and filled with hand-written recipes, mostly from my mum.

This was the chocolate cake she made, and still makes, when I was growing up but as I got older I increasingly put more milk into make it moister and now put a whole cup of milk.

When you are a bit heavy-handed with the cocoa anyhow, it makes little difference to the outcome.

It was also one of the first recipes I mastered as a grown-up.

I top it with Vienna Cream, straight out of the Women’s Weekly kids cake book, again cause it works everytime.

And it makes a great afternoon tea treat for these autumn holidays (particularly as the Easter chocolate runs out).

You can also download the recipe here. It is a pdf. Either right-click on the link and Save the target/link or open and click the disc to save to your computer.

my mum's chocolate cake

 

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Author: Kellie

Recipe type: Baking

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• few drops of vanilla essence
• 1 egg
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• ½ cup of milk*
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa*
• 1 small teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
• ½ cup of boiling water

Method

1. Add milk and flour alternately until mixed in. Add cocoa and finally soda dissolved in the boiling water. Mix in well. Bake in a moderate oven (180° Celsius) for 30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Notes

I usually use 1 cup of milk and get a bit heavy-handed with the cocoa. Vienna Cream (from the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book): 125g butter | 1½ cups icing sugar | 2 tablespoons milk Have butter and milk at room temperature, place butter in small bowl of electric mixer and beat until butter is as white as possible. Gradually add about half the sifted icing sugar mixture, beating constantly, add milk gradually. Then gradually beat in the remaining icing sugar. Mixture should be smooth and easy to spread with a spatula.

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