DEEP DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE from my first guest!

' A comment on CHOCOLATE BISCUIT PUDDING  from Divya Kudua' was the line that made me happy for weeks together as it was the first comment I ever recieved on my blog! :D And slowly that blogger became my friend...a real good friend! We made plans for meeting up but my stupid phone had to show some problems then and our plans flopped! BIG time! ARGH! Nevertheless we have our share of fun through twitter and chat! 

Do not forget to check out her lovely blog...she has a Best Chocolate Cake event happening out there with a GIVEAWAY! So what are you'll waiting for??


Over to my lovely friend Divya :)

Hello all,I take great pleasure to be on Ria’s blog doing a guest post for her while she’s away enjoying her newly married status.Hope you are having a great time baby!!

It was a few months back[or is it more than a year already?] that I hopped on to Ria’s blog.I immediately connected with her style of writing and left a comment not knowing that I was the first person to post a comment on her newly-started blog!!Yay..:).We started commenting on each others blog,chatting on Gtalk and tweeting on Twitter.We exchanged phone numbers too and spoke to each other and it felt so good to actually hear each others voices and giggle over it!!

She was so excited about her marriage and is a head-over-heels-in-love bride.I haven’t come across a bride who did her own make-up and baked her own wedding cake.Now come on,isn’t the pre-wedding time to enjoy and have fun and be stress free??The only way she de-stressed herself was to crochet golden flowers for her wedding attire and planning her wedding to the last detail.Three cheers to you.Jobin is very lucky to have you as his life partner.

When she asked me to do a guest post for her,I actually got goosebumps.I mean,look at her blog-her recipes,her wonderful pictures,would I be able to do justice to her blog?I was not so sure.But a bride has to have what she wants and this is my humble attempt to “feed” her blog while she’s away.During her pre-wedding “ban” on baking by her mom,she was craving for some Chocolate cake and I didn’t have to think twice about what I was going to bake for her!!

Let us raise a toast to the wonderful couple Ria and Jobin.Hope you have a wonderful time with each other and Wish you both a very very Happy Married life!!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
Recipe source - Hersheys

Ingredients

Sugar - 2 cups
All Purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups
Hershey's Cocoa - 3/4 cup [ I used Cadbury's]
Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Eggs - 2
Milk - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Boiling water - 1 cup [ I added a tsp of Instant Coffee Powder to this]

Method

Heat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. [I used two 8' round pans]

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes.

Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

For the frosting

Dark Chocolate - 200 gms [ chopped ]
Cream - 200 ml

In a pan boil the cream on a low flame till it heats up and bubbles start forming on the sides of the pan.
Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolates.
Stir well and let it cool to room temperature.

For the garnish

Melt about 50 gms of dark chocolate in a Microwave.
Pour the melted chocolate on a sheet of parchment paper and spread it thinly using a palette knife.
While it starts setting,use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make impressions on it.
Keep the chocolate in the freezer for a while and then remove the heart shaped chocolate from the parchment paper.
Keep refrigerated until use.

Assembling the Cake

In a serving plate place one cake and spread 1/3 of the ganache.
Place the next cake over it and cover it with 1/2 of it.
Spread the rest of the ganache all over the cake.
Place the heart shaped chocolates over it.
Chill and serve.

My best wishes and regards to the lovely couple!!