Quick and Easy One Bowl Chocolate Cake and my Early-life crisis

Its been a while hasn’t it? I’ve missed you guys very much :) I apologize for the delay the past few months have been quite….hectic. I’ve been going through quite a few things in my personal life that have left me without much time or desire (gasp!) to bake and blog. But that’s all going to change now. Hopefully.

To make a big story short, my biggest problem right now is that I do not know what to do. For those of you who know me well you will know that I am the kind of girl who thinks 5, 6, 8 and 10 steps ahead. I like to have a plan. Having a plan makes me happy. And as such, I have always made and modified and perfected my ‘life plan’. Many have laughed at me, others were puzzled at this teenage girl whose got her life planned and goals set for age 30 age 40 and beyond (when many adults still do not have it figured out).

So what is this plan? Well, I’ve had it planned out since 9th grade so I can tell you quite clearly. Step 1 : Obtain really good grades in high school in order to go to  university and get scholarships (check!) Step 2: Get a 4 years degree (in law and Politics) and work your ass off to get high grades and a ‘competitive’ record. (check!) Step 3: Apply to Law School, Step 4: Go to Law School, Step 5: Get a prestigious job in one of the best Law Firms in Bay Street Toronto (Canada’s equivalent to the big shot law firms in Manhattan NYC) I could go on and on and on about how this plan I have planned oh so well, but there would be no point. I have come to the conclusion that I will NOT be pursing this path anymore!

Early this summer I ended up having not a mid-life crisis, but an ‘early-life crisis’. I’m not sure I could fully explain the thought process (and believe me there was a lot of it!) but I realized that I no longer had a desire to become a lawyer! The optimistic side of me says that perhaps it’s a good thing I realized this before going to law school, going $150,000 in debt, and THEN realize I did not like it. But I cant help feeling very sad and a bit scared about all this. It is a very scary thing to go from having a plan only to have it go down the drain. Especially considering the fact that I am in my last year in my undergraduate degree, I am so very very very close to law school and all of my dreams, but now I feel I no longer want it? So what do I want? I have no idea. And for someone who NEEDS to have a plan….this is a very scary time.

Well perhaps to say that I have ‘no idea’ is unfair…I have quite a few ideas… (that’s the problem) and the reason I am stumped. The biggest issue is that the ‘options’ are very varied – from policy analyst to diplomat to getting a MBA or maybe even medical school? Thankfully because of my efforts the past 4 years I have a good enough GPA to have options. Unfortunately options can sometimes be frustrating! :p

When you are feeling the blues as I am and are not sure at all of your future, you know what helps? Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. And cake too. But what’s even better than chocolate cake? EASY one bowl chocolate cake. Because the last thing you want to do when having an early life crisis is to worry about washing the dishes. I found this cake to be super decadent and I decided to sprinkle on some pomegranate for decoration, but oh my god….it improved the flavor so much more! It added an excellent contrast : nice cool sour crunch with fudgy chocolate cake.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

* 150g unsalted butter

* 220g brown sugar

* 100g good quality dark chocolate
* 
50g Dutch-processed cocoa
* 
160ml milk

* 3 large eggs, room temperature

* 170g plain flour

* 1.5 tsp baking powder

* 1/2 tsp baking soda

* 1/2 tsp salt (skip this if using salted butter)


Method


Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 20-21cm square tin. (I used a 9 inch round)

In a large pot or mixing bowl over simmering water, add the butter, sugar, chocolate, cocoa and milk. When butter and chocolate has melted, remove from heat and whisk to combine. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Sift over the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt then gently stir to mix.
Scrape batter into tin and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool in tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack. Cake will keep for a few days in an airtight container (a quick zap in the microwave will get it all warm, melty and soft again).

Chocolate Fudge Frosting
(source)


Ingredients


* 100g good quality dark chocolate

* 50g unsalted butter, softened and at room temperature

* 150g icing sugar, sifted

* Pinch of salt
* 
1-2 Tbl of milk (I ended up using 3)


Method


In a bowl over simmering water, melt chocolate then remove from heat. Beat in softened butter (make sure it is room temp. Cold butter is bad news in this case). Sift over icing sugar and salt then beat until combined. Add enough milk until it is a spreadable consistency.

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Extremely Moist Banana Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

Don’t you just love when things turn out as they are supposed to?

If you are like me, more often than not, they don’t turn out as they are supposed to, and you deal with it. However, today I got a sweet little surprise! You see these pictures? To my delight and surprise I didn’t have to do much editing at all! 

Usually I don’t do any major editing, I feel if I do that I’m not being genuine and that if I need to seriously Photoshop a picture, then its my crappy photography skills fault, and thus I just ditch the photos all together. That may be a bit harsh (I probably have a good 50 sets of pictures that I have taken but will probably never post because I feel the photography skills sucked), but at the same time I think it’s a good thing. I feel like I’ve grown as a photographer because I keep pushing myself to create photos that are as natural as possible and need limited editing, and thus have learned how to improve. Anyways, I’ll stop bragging about this. It just really made my day :)

Now on to this cake, I made it way back in March for my birthday (on March 6^th) and it was very delicious. In my opinion, the best gift a foodie can give themselves on their birthday is a day in the kitchen! This banana cake was very moist; something that I usually find is missing in banana cakes. This has a special little part to it where you have to pop it into the freezer right after you bake it. I personally have never heard of this ‘technique’ and was quite intrigued. I don’t know if it’s the freezing that causes the moistness but either way it was pretty good. I also made a chocolate sour cream frosting to top it off which, as you can imagine, topped off this banana cake quite nicely! This recipe is a keeper folks! :)

Best Ever Banana Cake

(source)

Ingredients

    * 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe

    * 2 teaspoons lemon juice

    * 3 cups flour

    * 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

    * 1/4 teaspoon salt

    * 3/4 cup butter, softened

    * 2 1/8 cups sugar

    * 3 large eggs

    * 2 teaspoons vanilla

    * 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 275°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

2. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

I couldn't make up my mind with how to decorate it...a few royal icing flowers in the middle? no...one cute tiny one...no....I settled for banana slices and shaved dark chocolate! mmm :)

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