Sunday 22 April 2007

Am·a·zon cake

1/3 cup of cocoa powder - all it takes.

I stumbled upon this recipe, which I will reproduce below, and I can only reiterate Debbie's comments of just what a wonderfully easy, chocolatey, quick cake this is. Try it. It is brilliant.

I have made it many times now and have changed the recipe to suit what I always have to hand. Some modifications I have made :
  • I have used peanut oil, which gives a nice faintly nutty flavour, but I usually use olive oil because it is always in the cupboard.
  • I use white sugar or soft brown sugar, which gives a slight caramel flavour.
  • I have used different types of vinegar : red wine, white wine, cider, but not malt yet!
  • I have accidentally added more cocoa powder than required, to no ill effect.
  • I have scaled the recipe up and down, which is very easy to do, with no eggs to divide in half.
  • I have baked it in a loaf tin, a round tin and a square tin, all of which cooked perfectly.

Amazon Cake
via Words to Eat By, The New York Times, Cafe Beaujolais
by Margaret Fox

5 tablespoons olive oil
1½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 cup cold water
1 ½ cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 180°c, grease a cake tin.
Whisk together the oil, vanilla and vinegar with 1 cup cold water, whisk in the dry ingredients, to make a smooth batter.
Pour into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until it tests cooked with a skewer.
Cool in the pan.

6 comments:

Bron said...

Sounds great, and simple enough for the girls to make - which is a bonus!
Lovely to see you back!

Barbara said...

I've made this. It is so quick to make.
http://winosandfoodies.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/07/amazon_cake_tha.html#

catalyst0527 said...

It seems really good.
I can't wait to try it!

Emma said...

It is brilliant! All the boys at work wanted the recipe!

Breena Ronan said...

Oh! I have a recipe for something like this, it was really good.

Elizabeth said...

I've made a variation of this cake many times (I've heard it called whacky cake or one pan cake) using safflower oil, adding baking powder as well as baking soda, and using lukewarm water. If you leave out the cocoa powder, it makes a great white cake. I've also made pineapple cake by using pineapple juice instead of water.

Also, I've never greased the baking tin for this cake.

It's great cake, isn't it? I think it's my favourite kind of chocolate cake.

-Elizabeth