For some reason, this is the only chocolate cake my daughter likes ... the sour cream provides a wonderful mouth-filling smoothness - Nigella Lawson
Oh, another attack of the hyperbole, Nigella. I thought this cake (or at least, my version of it) tasted too much like packet cake (maybe that's why your daughter likes it!!). The cake was just a little dry (quite surprising for a cake with sour cream) and the icing was too icing-sugar sweet, for my tastes anyway. But fortunately, it is still quite edible (hey, it's chocolate cake after all!) and our friends' 3 year old daughter quite liked it. Especially the icing!The verdict
Unusual or substituted ingredients: Only unusual in that it uses sour cream. Oh, and golden syrup in the icing (I love golden syrup).
The recipe also calls for golden caster sugar. I think I've seen that here but I couldn't find any on the weekend, so I used regular caster sugar. Maybe that does make a difference?
Special utensils or cookware: None - very easy to make in the KitchenAid. Called for 20cm tins - as you know, I only have 22cm tins. So it just meant the cakes came out a little thin. Oh yeah, and they stuck like a b*tch, even though I buttered and lined the tins. So, should there be a next time with this cake, I'd butter and flour and line the tins. Or possibly use spring form tins. One or the other. You can't tell from the photo below, but the top cake (the upside down one) lost it's bottom. Fortunately, I could get it out of the tin in one piece and "stick" it back into place (badly).
Repeatability: Probably not. I like my chocolate cakes richer than this - more like the dense chocolate loaf. But it's an easy cake to make, perfectly acceptable and a little lighter - probably a good choice for kids, especially smaller kids.
This was the top cake (just after I placed it on top of the bottom cake). Lucky for thick icing which hides the cracks underneath!Sauciness: Don't lick the bowl from the sour-cream mix. Do lick the bowl from the icing. I think that's all that needs to be said! (Really, it's probably only me that needed that advice in the first place!)
Look, I even got the splayds out for this one!Overall pleasure level: I hate to say this, for a chocolate recipe, but this is only a 5 for me. Although I do have to admit, it did taste better the second day!
|