Childhood Chocolate Cake
If you’ve had a childhood constant in your life that loved to cook and bake whether it was your mum, dad, granny, favourite aunt, matronly neighbour or the nice old man at the corner bakery; you would have had that special chocolate cake that was your absolute favourite. I had mine and then I grew up and what were simple joys of a young life untouched by adult responsibilities, disappeared. And so did my chocolate cake. Years passed when one lazy afternoon I baked a cake that I felt would win over my boys. A chocolate cake. Simple, no fuss, pure, buttery and spiked with good cocoa powder. I watched with happiness as they wolfed down the slices I had placed on their plates. I picked up my slice and whiffed the chocolate. Something familiar sparked in the dark alley of my brain. I took a bite and it all came back. I had found my Childhood Chocolate Cake.
Rediscovering simple joys of your childhood as an adult is an unbelievable emotion. You feel like you’ve come a full circle and you have prevailed. I am amazed at how important a role food plays in all our lives right from when we are tiny little creatures running wild in the woods behind our homes to when we are all grown up and equipped to conquer the terrain of the urban jungle. And we always search, especially as parents for the things, the sights, the tastes and the smells that affected us as children so we can pass off some of that legacy to our own offsprings.
This chocolate cake was adapted from one of my favourite cookbooks of all time, Apples For Jam by Tessa Kiros. Apparently Tessa has thoughts very similar to mine when it comes to chocolate cakes and childhood memories. The instantly fudgy icing is the real winner in this recipe.
My props for the photo shoot included gorgeous silver plated Italian dessert spoons (sourced from ebay), a Mayfair & Jackson Coupe plate for the cake slice (Target), a floral cake plate of German origin (thrift store), rustic wood handle knife (thrift store) and dinner conversation starter cards (a birthday present from a friend and available at Kikki.K).
Click on Recipe Card for the full size version.
The cards I chose to use were My perfect weekend and A favourite smell from the kitchen. My perfect weekend would be one that had a slice of this cake at the breakfast table, actually make that several slices. And one of my favourite smells from the kitchen would have to be that of chocolate being cooked along with bread being baked. I was very lucky to have grown up only a stone’s throw away from a Cadbury factory. The smell of chocolate was a constant of my childhood days. What would be your perfect weekend, foodwise? And what has to be your favourite smell from the kitchen?
recipe
Childhood Chocolate Cake
Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Baking Time – 45 minutes
Serves – 10
Ingredients
200g butter, softened
50g dark chocolate, broken up
30g cocoa powder
3 eggs
80g caster sugar
100g brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons milk
icing
80g butter, softened
60g icing sugar
30g cocoa powder
3 teaspoons golden syrup
2 tablespoons milk
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease and flour a 24 centimeter springform tin. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and cocoa. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl whisk eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add the butter chocolate mixture and beat some more. Add the flour, baking powder and milk and whisk until light, fluffy and smooth.
Scrape the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake in the pre heated oven for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before removing from tin and placing on a serving plate.
To make the icing, combine all ingredients for icing in a large bowl and whisk with an electric beater until smooth and creamy. Spread on cooled cake with an icing spatula using swift smooth strokes.
My Notes
The addition of golden syrup makes this icing a winner in my opinion. It instantly makes it fudgy and spreadable so there is no need to chill before or after icing the cake.
Using the Cadbury brand cocoa powder for the icing resulted in a sweeter, milder and more child friendly version. When I baked this cake again and used Nestle’s unsweetened dark cocoa powder, the icing was beautiful but definitely more grown up.
Half a cup of crushed nuts or jam and cream would also make a lovely variation when added to the cake.
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Awesome photos Sneh. I’m so grateful tastes and smells seem to stick to our minds much harder than words! It was not on weekends but I absolutely loved when I joined my aunties for my granny’s regular doctor appointments. I was so small I don’t remember if it was before or after the appointment, but we always stopped at a cafe with high old-fashioned stools for cafe con leche (coffee with milk) for the adults and the simplest butter-loaded vanilla cupcakes that are the best I’ve ever eaten. The smells and tastes still make me smile.
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What a special treat for a little girl. Your memory sounds wonderful and made me smile too
Love all the spoons and pictures Sneh! This cake looks decadent & moist.I used to ADORE chocolate cakes as a kid but now I share a love- hate relationship with chocolate.Addition of golden syrup- Genius!!
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sneh …. i love the lil cards….esp my favorite smell from the kitchen
adorable ! chocolate cake can never fade …all time favorite 
the smell of baking is something i love 
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What an incredible post – from the writing to the photography, to the beautiful recipe card, I loved everything about it!
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For some reason, I hated chocolate when I was a kid. Especially chocolate ice cream! I guess I was an odd kid…
I like chocolate a lot more now, and your childhood chocolate cake looks very yummy.
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Love the post and the look of your cake – nice finger pattern in the icing! When I was little I often said I wanted to be a grown up but my Mum would tell me to enjoy being a kid and and carefree because I had more than 50 years to be a grown up – with its serious jobs and responsibilities. Looking at our kids now, I know how right she was!
My favourite smell from the kitchen would either have to be an Asian-paste roasting beef or my Mum’s shortcust apple turnovers baking. Lovely.
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Your mum was so right. She sounds like a wise and wonderful cook
Sneh, this chocolate cake looks irresistible! Your icing certainly has the “I want to dip my finger in it” factor!! Apples for Jam is on of my favourite cookbooks for feel-good warming dishes. With winter well and truly here, I’ve been using it quite a bit recently. I also love how her chapters are divided by colour! Happy weekend xx
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such gorgeousness. why haven’t i come across your blog before? damn!
hello! i love your blog and this recipe looks amazing! i’m really excited to try it! but i struggle with having to measure out the ingredients in grams. is there any way i can do this without having to use a food scale? thank you!
Thnx Mariya. I usually convert the weight/volume online to the one I want. I like the cups/teaspoons measure the best. And then go from there. There are many online calculators. Just Google them. Hope that helps.
I don’t like chocolate but chocolate cake has been my all time fav and yours looks so perfect and soft. I can imagine how happy you must have felt after re-living the childhood moment.. happens with me too at times
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Your chocolate cake looks sensational and I love the styling efforts you’ve gone too. Those spoons are so pretty and the conversation starters are a great idea.
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Gorgeous cake. Nothing hits the spot more than a good chocolate cake.
I love to try out and taste (actually more like stuff my face with) various chocolate cakes…and this one sounds like a winner!! Often times though, I’ll make cupcakes instead of a cake so I can easily distribute it amongst friends and coworkers.
Have you tried making cupcakes with this recipe? If so, other than baking time, are there other adjustments that you think need to be made?