Happy Chocolate Cake Day!

To make sure we have things straight -- in this blog, I have never claimed to be a baker, let alone a good one. I simply love chocolate, especially chocolate desserts, and in my pursuit of the "perfect chocolate cake", I want to capture my adventures and discoveries. Unfortunately, if you've read my blog, you know that my attempts at creating in the kitchen have led to more chocolate missteps than successes.

With January 27th being "Chocolate Cake Day" however, I thought I'd give the kitchen another try and celebrate by baking a chocolate cake. With few recent baking successes and also feeling rusty in the kitchen, I decided to attempt something basic, simple, and beginner, in spite having just heard my chocolate mentor Alice Medrich speak.

A friend posted a mocha glaze recipe on Facebook and when emailing it to me, she suggested I attempt it and review it. She used the glaze on Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake, loved it, and with the recipe skill level listed online as "beginner," I thought this would be a good way to get back into the chocolate game. And besides, I am in pursuit of the "perfect" chocolate cake.

Though the recipe is clearly NOT vegan with its use of eggs and milk, I decided to stick with the recipe to build up my chocolate baking confidence in the kitchen. Watching FoodNetwork reality shows, I am learning that it is important to master basics in the kitchen before being creative. And with baking more of a science than an art, I know I need to better understand how essential ingredients react before substituting them out for more animal-friendly ones.

Thus, I followed the recipe very closely -- though I did cut it in half as I don't need a 2-layered cake to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day. Keep it simple. After preheating the oven, greasing and flouring the pan, I combined the 1 cup sugar, 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa, 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. So far so good.

After I added the wet ingredients - one egg, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of canola oil, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla - I went to get the electric mixer I had borrowed from my mom so to combine the ingredients. (I do not yet have my own mixer.) In reaching for the box I had brought from my parents home, I discovered to my horror that the blades to this mixer (which is probably older than me) were missing!

While searching my mom's cabinets for the mixer earlier this week, I vaguely remember the box opening backwards and falling, but I never suspected that something fell out. Rummaging around through my stuff, I knew that the blades were not here and that I would need to improvise. "So much for baking success," I began to think.

Rather than "beat on medium speed for 2 minutes" as the recipe instructs, I simply beat on "cacao-me speed" while waiting for the water, I would next need, to boil. Though I experienced a momentary set-back, as the ingredients blended and I mixed mixed mixed, the smell of chocolate filled the air. It was quiet heavenly. May be I could salvage this after all.

After the water boiled, I added 1/2 cup to the batter, stirring it in as it thinned as the recipe said. I then poured it into my pan (OK, my mom's round cake pan), and let it bake. After about 30 minutes, I went to check on it.

To my horror, it looked like a moonscape with lava rocks, which might have been okay if I was making a "lava cake," but no. This was the beginner's "perfect" chocolate cake and somehow I had messed it up. Inserting the toothpick, I saw that it was done. I took it out to cool, and decided that if they had a show called, "Worst Baker in America" (in the vein of FoodNetwork's "Worst Cooks in America"), I'd be a good contender. Sigh.

Oh well. "May be if I cover it with the glaze no one will know."

Following my friend's glaze instructions, I combined 2 teaspoons of hot double shot espresso, 3/4 teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa, just under 1/4 cup powdered sugar (as she said she would make it less sweet next time), and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla. Mixing it, the glaze began to smooth and yes, it tasted just like coffee nip candy as my friend said, though not as sweet. Adding less sugar gave it a nice kick which I liked. This part of the cake was working out -- until I realized that this was far from enough to cover the cake.

I made another batch and would have made a third and fourth, except I was running out of ingredients. This would have to do. Though the glaze was tasting good, it was not hardening up. "May be when the glaze cools it will stiffen," I thought. I began to drizzle it on, but unfortunately it did not cover my chocolate moon rocks. It simply flowed around the bumps like a chocolate lava flow, and looked rather sloppy as it harden. May be the taste will save this next kitchen chocolate nightmare.

Thankfully, though it looks like a some alien nightmare on the surface, I am glad to say it doesn't taste like it. (Whew!) Cutting a slice, the cake is moist and fluffy, nicely baked, with a balanced chocolate flavor. It is surprisingly not too sweet, in spite having more sugar than flour. Though it doesn't have the dark chocolate bittersweet bite and rich denseness I prefer, for a simple straight forward (not from a box) chocolate cake, it is very good.

What adds the chocolate sophistication to the cake is the mocha glaze. The wonderful edgy bite of the espresso brings out the simple chocolate flavors of the cake underneath, and raises this dessert from "at home" enjoyment to restaurant indulgence (as long as you don't look too closely at it!) Probably multiplying the mocha glaze recipe so that there is enough to fully cover the top of the cake, and then adding it as a filling with a second layer, would make this an excellent gourmet sophisticated chocolate dessert. Add a scoop of French vanilla ice cream and you have a real winner.

The lesson from this baking adventure: a good chocolate dessert begins with the essentials - it builds off a good chocolate cake.

Though this baking attempt did not produce a "pretty" cake, it did provide the foundation upon which to build a pretty delicious dessert. And in the same way, though my baking skills are far from honed, I know I am learning some essential skills I need to be more proficient in the kitchen baking with chocolate.

One think that will definitely help me in the process is my own electric mixer.