Stand-back-and-throw: a super-easy fudgey chocolate cake of short stature

Do you know that feeling of pushing your luck; going a little bit too far?

I do.

Especially in the culinary department. I sometimes wonder whether my epitaph will read:
Here lies Hoppo Bumpo.
She couldn't leave well alone.

For example, last week I tried a new chocolate cake recipe (found at http://www.taste.com.au/). It was a perfectly good recipe: I had all the ingredients to hand; the method was simple; the cake rose nicely; and it was quite tasty. I served my baked treat for an afternoon tea and it seemed that it was indeed acceptable.

Most right minded folk would be be happy with that. The recipe would be filed away; followed again. Not me. Oh no - I had to meddle. I suffer from a touch of the old one-step-too-fars.

It started as: maybe a bit more vanilla might be nice. And moved on to: would it be fudgier if I used brown sugar? Seemingly innocuous ingredient changes. That was until I spied the food processor out on the kitchen bench. Suddenly it was a lot less about making the cake taste better and more about speed, as I was overcome with the urge to stand-back-and-throw.

So here's how I opted to dispense with all that careful sifting, making of wells and cautious mixing and instead, blend the living daylights out of the cake batter. The preparation was very short ... and so was the cake.

Super-easy fudgey chocolate cake of short stature

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F)


2. Melt 125 g (4½ oz) butter and allow to cool slightly as you complete the following steps


3. Grease a 20cm (8") cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper


4. Get out the food processor


5. Throw 1⅓ cups of plain (all purpose) flour, ⅓ cup cocoa, 1 cup (loosely packed) brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda into the food processor and blitz


6. Chuck the butter in with the dry ingredients and blitz


7. Hurl in 2 eggs (I use an egg replacer), 1 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of vanilla and blend until nice and smooth


8. Pour into the cake tin


9. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean


10. Cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack

This version gives a low cake with a fine, dense texture and a sweet crust. I topped mine with a combination of white and milk chocolate melted together with a teaspoon of butter. If you fancy a cake of taller stature (and a little more work), please see the original recipe here.