Luxury Chocolate Cake Recipe

Directions:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 170 Celsius.Line and grease a 9 x9 x3 (height) baking pan or a 9 round one.
2. 2. Sift flour,cocoa powder and soda bicarbonate twice and set aside.
3. 3. Cream(beat with an electric mixer) butter and sugar on high for five minutes if using a regular mixer and 2 minutes if using a Ken wood or Kitchen Aid(they have larger motors and therefore are more powerful) till they are amalgamated,fluffy,pale and somewhat risen,scraping well in between(stopping the mixer periodically and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
4. 4. with a rubber or silicone spatula).
5. 5. To test,place a smidgen on thumb and rub between thumb and forefinger.If able to feel the sugar granules, beat on for an additional minute or two.However keep in mind that there is a fine line between just right and over beating which would result in a curdled looking mix.Fret not for it is salvageable,just stop beating and using a wooden spoon,fold the mix in one direction while the bowl is tilted at a 45 degree angle.
6. 6. Once done,pour in the three eggs one at a time,beating well between additions.
7. 7. Always break the eggs individually into a saucer before pouring into a bowl to prevent a fluke from occurring such as a spoiled egg contaminating the rest of the broken eggs or butter sugar mixture.
8. 8. Add in the essence and coffee mix, beating well between additions.
9. 9. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl
10. 10. Fold in the combined flours using the same spoon in one direction a little at a time,it ought to take between 3 and 4 additions.
11. 11. Always fold and stir in one direction with the bowl placed at a 45 degree angle to ease mixing.Ensure that no pockets of flour remain before giving the filled cake tin a thwack on the counter to remove any trapped air bubbles.
12. 12. Place in the oven for 40 minutes,checking every five minutes after the thirty minute mark.
13. 13. Remove from oven and insert a skewer or toothpick in the center of the cake.It should either come out clean or with a few crumbs sticking to it.
14. 14. Should it be wet,place back in the oven for between 10 to 15 minutes and monitor closely.
15. 15. When lightly pressed it should bounce back.Cool for five minutes in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
16. 16. Never slice a cake while still hot/warm as it is still soft and therefore crumbly or with a straight edged knife.
17. 17. Always use as serrated knife for cutting a cake.
18. 18. A chocolate cake like most spiced/fruity cakes tastes better the next day as the flavours have had time to settle into themselves quite like fish curry.
19. 19. Cake can be placed outside for 3 days before they have to be refrigerated as they do not contain any preservatives.
20. 20. As an alternative,one can also add a handful of chopped nuts for a nuttier flavour,raisins to increase the chewiness factor and chocolate chips, the latter increasing the chocolate flavour in the cake.If using additions,always dust with a half teaspoon of cocoa powder before folding in the mix prior to adding in the flour mixture.
21. 21. This is to prevent the additions from sinking down to the bottom of the cake and splitting the cake into two halves when cutting into it.