Tuesday, December 25, 2007

The Christmas Eve Chocolate Cake

In all the three years I've been writing on this blog, I don't think there's ever been a post quite like this — dedicated entirely to the preparation of a chocolate cake. So why now all of a sudden you ask? Because I made one today!

Pardon me fellow chefs if this cake isn't as good looking as it's supposed to be, the only prior cooking experience I have is making scrambled eggs. Anyway it tastes real nice, and that's all I care about. With that said, let's get on with the cake-making. If you haven't made a cake before, read and learn.

The Preparation


I bought this box of "Pillsbury Rich Chocolate Cake Mix" from Food World the other day (life is simple when you don't have to worry about the ingredients that go into making a cake, let alone their proportions). And yes, you obviously need a baking pan. You could use a big rectangular one, but then you'd have to spend time cutting it up into pieces once it's done. The simpler option would be to use a cup cake pan like the one I used. That way you don't have to worry about people looking strangely at all those irregularly sized/shaped pieces.

Mixing it Up


Add 2 eggs, 1/4 cup refined oil and 3/4 cup water to the cake mix and stir the mixture till you get a smooth batter. The mixer helps in the "smooth" department.

And it's Bake Time!


Grease the pan with butter and pour the batter into it. Bake in an oven at 170 degrees for 25-30 minutes and you're done. It really is that simple!

The Edibility Test


Like they say, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating". That's Karthik an hour ago with one of my cup cakes to go with that big mug of tea. Tea and chocolate cake is probably the weirdest combination ever, but who cares as long as he liked the cake! Oh and he's watching Die Hard in case you were wondering.

It's past 2am now (makes the latest XKCD so relavant), so Merry Christmas everyone and have a great day!

15 comments:

shreybomb said...

this is a scary coincident but my cake is in the oven as I am reading your post :D and also I am making chocolate cake too :D...it looks awesome. Cake and Tea btw - fantabulous combo :D ...call me weird...:P

Poornaa Venkatesan said...

Tummuch! Now we can find too many non-cooking wives...

Range man!

Varun Abhiram said...

Shreya ji -- Whoa! You making choco cake too huh! Lemme know when it's done... we'll see whose is better ;)

And I have to try this cake-tea combo sometime...

Poo -- Yeah range only no :)

Karthik Abhiram said...

"Tea and chocolate cake is probably the weirdest combination ever"

Hey!! Who says it's a weird combo? It's a perfectly acceptable one :)

Anyway, I also made Christmas-related post:

http://karthik82.com/?page=post&id=1105

Varun Abhiram said...

Kar -- Yeah yeah just saw it. The christmas guy rules!

Anonymous said...

Looks like Karthik is still alive. Good job with the cake, Varun! ;-) Send me one, I'd like to try these as well! ;-)

Merry Christmas to you and Karthik!

See ya,
Toby

Anonymous said...

Did you have fun by cooking that cake, Varun? By the way, have you received my Christmas greeting card?! If not... merry Christmas! =)

Varun Abhiram said...

Toby -- Thanks! Sure sure... but I'm not sure if the cake will survive the journey :P

Ismaele -- Oh yeah... fun it was!

Merry Christmas to you too! Got your card, sent you a reply also :)

Anonymous said...

made your cake and ate at it too eh? :P

-Pratyusha

Varun Abhiram said...

Hehe yes yes :P

Anonymous said...

*and ate it too

oops.

Ganeshan said...

Ooh, another fellow cake maker :)

Guess who layered sponge cake mix, chocolate cake mix and mozarella cheese into a cake! needless to say it was delicious :)

Happy caking!

Varun Abhiram said...

Haha awesome! But mozarella cheese on a cake?! :O

Rajeev Turlapati said...

it's time u make bigger stuff wen i visit ur place...gueshtt :P

Varun Abhiram said...

Hehe sure sure...