Gimme some oven!

There are bad days only a chocolate cake can fix. Having one of those days, and your favorite cake shop is shut? Bake your own!

Flour  (maida) : 1 ½-2 bowls

Curd : 1 bowl

Butter : 3/4^th of a 100gm bar

Eggs:  2

Sugar: 2 bowls

Cocoa Powder : 4-5 tablespoons

Vanilla Essence : 1 tablespoon

Baking Soda: 1 tablespoon

It’s fairly simple- mix it all up, and beat it till there are no lumps in the batter. It’s a basic recipe, but very few seem to have got it right. Maybe there’s a secret to baking a simple chocolate cake too, you never know. Here’s what works for me-

1.       No measurements- 2 bowls might mean 1 and 3/4^th, or 2 and 1/3^rd or 2 and 1/4^th…you get the point.

2.       Brands- I experimented with a few, and saw the difference in the cakes.

3.       The butter- There are a few recipes that include salt as an ingredient. Amul butter does the job.

4.       The curd-  Mother Dairy. Nestle is a little too sour. Amul works too. (Curd is a better option compared to             milk, the cakes turn out richer)

5.       The sugar- Don't grind the sugar. This way the cakes turn out a little sticky and gooey.

6.       The baking powder- don’t use baking powder that’s more than a month old.

7.        The secret ingredient- add a little (1/3^rd bowl) of boiling water once the batter is ready, and mix it up once more. This was a tip I picked up from Nigella’s cooking show. It helps in making the cake fluffier (yes it does!)

Sometimes a simple chocolate cake can save the day.