Back to Basics

I am a lover of cakes. Not so much eating them, although I do enjoy that, but baking them. I'd rather bake you a fantastic cake for some wonderful reason than just make one for myself. This is why I loved being a pastry grunt. I got to bake fantastic cakes for lots of "you" for many wonderful occasions.

And I didn't have to eat them. Although that part is OK too.

For this cake decorating class I've been looking at all kinds of fun cake recipes because it gives me a chance to do what I love. Today is kind of rushed. I need a cake this evening. One that is frosted and ready to decorate. I didn't bake last night. I still have to buy ingredients to make my frosting. I have a daughter who has her music class later on this morning. I needed to bake a cake fast.

All the "fun" recipes I've been wanting to do take too much time to get done in just under an hour. Some include ingredients I don't have on hand after being away for a week. Feeling frustrated, I looked back into my pastry past and pulled out a great chocolate cake recipe. The batter comes together in just over five minutes--about the time it takes to boil the water for the first step--bakes up in about 25-30 minutes and goes great with anything frosting wise. It also freezes well and can be baked into sheets to be cut for tiny cakes. Simple, versatile, and delicious.

The originator of the recipe is lost to me. I picked it up from my second pastry chef and I have since passed it along to the bakery I worked for. I've used it for all kinds of fun cakes and today I added crystallized ginger chips for an exotic flair. I'll frost with cream cheese and decorate with roses tonight.

And I'm going to share the "home cook" version with you. The ingredients are given in weights, because I had to scale the amounts down from an industrial-sized recipe. So bust out your kitchen scale and get baking next time company calls...

Midnight Cake
Makes two 8" round cakes.

Ingredients

10 1/4 oz. Sugar
2 oz Cocoa Powder (NOT Dutch Process)
1 1/2 cups Boiling Water

1/2 cup Vegetable oil
2 large Eggs

9 1/2 oz. AP Flour
1/4 oz. Baking Soda

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8" round cake pans. Begin water boiling while measuring out the rest of the ingredients. Note: I usually prep the oil and eggs together in a measuring cup, and whisk the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl. This makes it really easy to put the batter together.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar and cocoa powder. Pour hot water over mixture and blend. Whisk in the oil and eggs. Sift the flour and baking soda over the wet mixture, then whisk. Batter will be very wet and look lumpy. That's OK.

Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cake is set, puffy and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn out of pan and let cool completely before filling, frosting, or otherwise finishing off the cake.

Enjoy!