This is a sneak peek into my little slice of New Zealand. The oak trees were planted by Rob’s family five generations ago and I think they look their very best at this time of the year. I spent Friday morning capturing some images for a fundraising project at Jaime’s school and as I was walking back home I couldn’t resist one last shot – if I was the kind of photographer who named her works of art then this would be entitled “Almost Home”.
Once I got home and thawed out a little over a cup of tea I decided to bake a chocolate cake for afternoon tea. I googled recipes for inspiration and came up with this wee gem of a recipe which produced “The best chocolate I’ve ever tasted ” according to Cierra. Sometimes, when I’m cooking or baking I feel like a Master Chef contestant with my family as the judges. I will count this as a good day in the kitchen and guess that I’ll be staying on for another round.
Extreme Chocolate Cake
(allrecipes.com).
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake tins.
In a bowl stir together the sugar, milk, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and the vanilla, mix well with an electric mixer. Stir in the boiling water by hand. Pour evenly into the cake tins.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until cooked. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from tins to cool completely.
Icing
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups cocoa
5 1/3 cups icing sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cream butter until light and fluffy. Stir in cocoa and icing sugar, alternating with the milk. Add vanilla and beat to a spreading consistency.
