Chocolate Cupcakes

We're not strictly soaking up new knowledge today as there's not a lot here that's new, but I thought I'd like to tell you about my cupcake experimenting. Cupcakes, I have to say, are awfully trendy, which has sort of put me off them a bit. I've never really been a trendy girl, as many of you will know. I started baking brownies only years after everyone else did, I started wearing leggings only when they became mainstream, and the phrase "lol" has never and will never cross my fingertips (that didn't count).

I kept away from cupcakes for a long time because I didn't see a great need for them in my life and, if faced with a choice, I would always go for a slab of cake rather than a cupcake. But I concede, they are quite fun to bake, fun for kids (well, other people's. Mine won't eat them) and, it turns out, fun to have in the freezer.

Annabel Langbein's Ultimate Chocolate Cake

I believe that cakes are good for celebrations, but I have also discovered over recent months that baking is good for the soul. So when my soul and I didn't know what to do with ourselves this afternoon, we baked.

Chocolate Banana Cake

I've made a few challenging things over recent months on this blog, but today was one of the hardest of all. This afternoon we made a birthday cake for our beloved husband and daddy who died 8 months ago.

Reuben and I had a conversation a while ago which made me decide I wanted to make a chocolate and banana cake. A friend of mine recently made a fantastic one and kindly passed on the recipe. I must say this one came out very differently - I seem to have a problem with particularly flat cakes at the moment, and the banana was much more chunky and noticeable in this one, but I *loved* it. It was even more moist than last time I tried it, and I added a little more cocoa. It's really, really good!

Dana's Chocolate Cake

It's been a chocolate cakey week. A friend of mine hosted a mini-gathering to test out chocolate cake recipes for an upcoming event, and a few of us were happy to do the research for her and provide our opinions. Her original online plea for "best chocolate cake recommendations" resulted in an absolute stampede. It seems there are some great recipes out there, or at least some strong opinions.

It's a topic I have been thinking about a bit lately - the idea of finding the best recipe for some favourite foods, and chocolate cake is not surprisingly on the list. But I am realising this could be more complicated than I originally thought, and have struggled to put this idea together. How exactly do you define chocolate cake? It's a very subjective topic, who decides what tastes best (well, me. And you can see if you agree...)? But, most awkwardly of all, a friend pointed out the other day that even when you hit on a really good recipe (which she and I believe we have) if you have it too many times (which perhaps she and I have) it can start to get a bit boring.

But I want to plough on anyway. Most importantly, I think this "best recipe" idea will have to never be definitive, it will be a moving feast, if you will. Your submissions will be welcome, requested even, and even when I think I have come across the best I can find, I look forward to you topping it with something better (recipes are good, samples in my letter box are encouraged).

So, chocolate cake. The samples I tried on my friend's sunny back deck were outstanding. One of them I have made myself, and I was eager to see it again. The other got better and better the more I ate (always a problem). And not only because my friend hand-ground all the hazelnuts herself! But I'm not sure if they quite fit the definition that I need to put in place. Mainly I think because they don't have flour, and once you leave the standard cake ingredients behind, you can go a long way off course and where does it end? So I will leave you with some photos and references (click on the links) to these great cakes from my friend's sunny back deck, and then suggest to you what I believe to be the best basic chocolate cake recipe around at the moment: Dana's Chocolate Cake. The recipe is found in Sophie Gray's Destitute Gourmet Stunning Food from Small Change, and the sample below was made earlier this week to celebrate the third birthday of the best little guy around.

So this is best chocolate cake recipe part one. I think there may be more.

Dana's Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups milk

100 grams melted butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Put all ingredients in to a food processor and mix.

Grease and line a 20cm cake loose-bottom cake tin (it's quite a liquid mix and you don't want it leak in to the bottom of the oven).

Bake for 50 mins at 180 degrees.

Nigella's Nutella Cake

Chocolate Cloud Cake