Shaheen Peerbhai
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cakes and sweet bakes CHOCOLATEJune 1, 2009

My Love for Books and Chocolate Cake

By Shaheen

Some of my books

I love collecting books on food and I’m also pretty darn proud of my collection thus far. And it is something to be a little reverent about, especially for someone living in Bombay where the David Lebovitzs and Ina Gartens continue to elude the bookstore shelves. From all the books I’ve got, some have been happy accidents (my OH, from now onwards referred to as *orangefoodie*, found Garlic and Sapphires at a bookstore), some have taken months of following up (Baking From My Home To Yours) and some are now making their way to my doorstep (Bread Baker’s Apprentice), thanks to the new online resource I found that ships them all the way here. And just when I thought I had exhausted my options of finding books, orangefoodie buys me a book I’ve been dying to get my hands on, and how?! He orders it from Amazon and has it delivered to the hotel his colleague is staying at during a business trip to the USA, just to make me happy (and bake him many more cakes in the bargain)!


So which is this book that I really wanted? I’d like to continue saying all the nice things about it now, but I will come straight to the point lest you bounce off. Well, it’s Molly Wizenberg’s, A Homemade Life. After reading her dreamy stories on her blog, people saying many lovely things about her book and bloggers raving about her recipes in it, I couldn’t help adding the book to my wishlist. So when I finally got this book about two weeks ago, I was instantly engrossed. And then I stopped. Why? Because I feared it may get over too soon! I love her stories of eating pain au chocolat in Paris with her father; it makes me imagine doing the same someday with my kids. Then there’s the little story of when her father taught her to be unbiased about fruits and enjoy prunes when the rest considered it unfashionable. And another one of her memories of eating her mum’s pound cake when they’d all go for a picnic to the park. All these stories made me smile. :)


A Homemade Life


Along with books, I also love a good chocolate cake. Something that has a lot of chocolate, more dense than spongy and wonderfully moist. Today I felt like making a cake to satiate my chocolate cravings. Now, I already have a no-fail chocolate cake recipe, but looking at Molly’s description of this being “a dark fudgy one with yoghurt for moisture, coffee for depth of flavour, and two types of chocolate,” I had a feeling I won’t be disappointed. There was but one catch to it; I’m no fan of coffee so there was no way I’d like my cake smelling of coffee. For this reason I substituted the coffee with hot milk. But if you are a coffee fan, by all means, try it!


Double chocolate cupcakes


Double Chocolate Cupcakes


Double Chocolate Fudge Cake

Adapted from: A Homemade Life

Yield: 12 cupcakes or an 8″ cake


1/3rd cup/ 50g semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup hot milk (or coffee)

1 cup /200g  sugar

3/4th / 80g cup flour

1/2 / 120g cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4th tsp baking powder

1/4th tsp salt

1 large egg

1/4th / 50g cup canola oil or any flavourless, odourless oil

1/2 / 100g cup  yoghurt

1/4th tsp vanilla extract


For the glaze:

1/2 cup / 75g bittersweet chocolate (more if you’d like a thicker layer of chocolate)


Ingredients for chocolate cake


Double Chocolate Cupcake ingredients

  1. In a small bowl, pour the hot milk over the semisweet chocolate and stir till the chocolate has melted.
  2. In another medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or mixing bowl (if mixing by hand or handheld beaters), beat the egg until pale yellow, about 1 minute.
  4. Add the oil, yoghurt and vanilla.
  5. Then add the milk and chocolate mixture and beat till thoroughly combined.
  6. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.
  7. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir briefly.
  8. Pour the batter in a line 8 or 9 inch cake tin or lined muffin tin. When using a muffin tin, be careful to leave enough room for rising; the batter is quite runny and there might be spillovers! If you are using silicone cups, make sure to spray it with non-stick cooking spray so that unmoulding is a breeze.
  9. In a preheated oven at 350F/175C, bake 20-25 minutes in muffin tin and 40-50 minutes in a cake tin, or until a thin knife comes out clean.
  10. Let the cake cool completely before glazing.
  11. For the glaze: Simply melt the chocolate and spoon it over the cake. Spread it evenly with a spatula.

Update 1: I made the cake for the second time this week. This time, I made an 8 inch cake with a ganache of white and dark chocolate – delicious and gratifying. You have got to try this recipe! And be sure to make it at least 2 hours before you want to eat it for the best taste.

Update 2: I’ve entered this month’s Click photography contest for the first time with the first photo of this post as the entry. The theme this time is Stacks and stack of books fit the theme perfectly! =)

BOOKS, CHOCOLATE
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