here I am

I have lost count of how many recipes I've been given with the title "The best (.......) ever"

And although some of them don't quite live up to their grandiose claims, I have one which definitely does!!

This then, is "The Best Chocolate Box Cake Ever"!!

Also known as the Beer Box Cake. (you'll soon see why - it is actually amazing)

I've had quite a few people asking me for this recipe, so I thought the blog would be the perfect forum for getting it out there, after being inspired by an amazing blogsite called http://www.pioneerwomancooks.com/ which a friend put me onto.

Now, to warn you upfront, this is a LARGE cake - perfect for birthday parties or functions. It lasts well for about 3 days however, so you could make it, share it with the neighbours and enjoy it for a few days! I've taken some photos to help with the making of it. (I only thought of the idea after the first few steps, so I can't really call these step-by-step photos now can I?)

The ingredients and their quantities are listed at the bottom of the post.

First, get yourself a beer box. Yes, those cardboard boxes that the cans of beer come in! How it doesn't catch alight in the oven still mystifies me, even after making it more than 40 times (and yes, I've counted)

Line the beer box with aluminium foil (the lightweight type), shiny side up. (who knows why - I was told to do it that way, and I'm too petrified to try it the other way and waste all these precious ingredients to bother to test the theory!)

See, I'm such a loyal South African!

Why is that pineapple in the shot? And the bottle of olives?

Ah yes, I was doing two things at the same time again - preparing the ingredients for the do-it-yourself pizza birthday party, whilst baking the cake!!
Multi-tasking is my middle name

Grease the foil lightly. In the meantime, switch the oven onto 180 degrees C.

Put 500ml water, 150ml oil, 90ml (6 Tbsp) cocoa powder and 10ml (2tsp) vanilla essence into a small pot, and bring to the boil while stirring. Take off the heat as soon as the mixture boils and put aside to cool.

Yay, we have photos now!!

Don't be tempted to taste this - it may look good, but we haven't added sugar yet remember!!

Break the 8 eggs (!) into a mixer bowl

I just love my very old Bosch mixer - I'm sure it could be classified as an antique by now! One of my closest friends passed it onto to me (I think a little reluctantly :o) ) when she emigrated and couldn't take any electrical appliances with her. I was a very willing recipient, and this old lady is very well-loved in our home.

Measure out 750ml castor sugar (I thought I'd show the measurement for those visitors who work in pints - don't say I'm not considerate! But don't ask me how it works - looks very complicated to me! What is that? 1 pint plus 26 ounces? I don't know, I'll leave it up to you)

add the sugar to the eggs (this was just said as an excuse to try out an action pouring shot :o)

Set your mixer to medium speed and whirr away while you start with the next step. (If you are beating by hand .............sorry for you!)

Oh goodie, another action shot - and this time I can use both hands to hold the camera!

In the meantime ...

Hang on, there isn't another step yet -

Well, why not use the opportunity to email a friend, have a coffee, read the front page of the paper ....

Oh, ok, ok. Use the time to clean up the egg shells, spilled castor sugar and crusted chocolate splatters on the stove!!

Your mixture will start to change colour after a few minutes ...

... but don't be tempted to switch the mixer off just yet!

Because, it needs to look like this:

We want air in this cake. And this colour will ensure you of the lightest texture - trust me.

This is the only part of the recipe where we will be mixing this vigorously, from now on, the less mixing, the better. (feeling for you hand mixers here)

Right, now we are going to add 875ml (3.5 cups) sifted cake flour and 30 ml (6tsps) baking powder. (I did say it was a large cake ....)

oops, nearly forgot the conversion photo for you non-metrics! Here we go then ...

That looks like a more straight-forward 1.5 pints to me?

This baking powder has my name on it!
(oh man, that was such a weak attempt at a joke - and only those who know us well will catch it anyway - moving on)

Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture ... very important to fold at this stage - no cheating!

remember how you twist the handle of the spoon while lifting the mixture up and over. Don't be tempted to stir - you'll regret it later when the cake is too dense.

Ouch, those shots were hard to do with one hand - I'm calling Patrick to take the next few!

Ok, now add the cooled chocolate mixture gradually to the egg and flour mixture. Keep folding - and it is vital that you don't over mix at this stage. Just blend it gently.

Now, at this stage, I got so excited about my cake, I forgot to take photos for a while!
And I was also feeling devasted at how messy the bowl was looking, so I got very distracted at this point!

But, once you've 'gently blended' the mixtures, pour the whole lot into the prepared beer box and place in the middle of the oven to bake for about 35 minutes.

So this is the photo once the baking is done.

You can see I couldn't find a skewer can't you? So, I had to use a rather large knife - and then I always doubt the first test, so I do it twice! Is it just me?

Right, so that's your cake. I will guarantee that you will not have any left over. We had people around for lunch the day after the birthday party, and we must have had at least 3 pieces each! It is such a moist, light, delicious cake - you simply have to try it!

Enjoy!

PS, Choose your own icing

I usually just do a simple chocolate butter icing, with about a half a packet of icing sugar, 2 tbls cocoa powder and enough softened butter to cream it. Sometimes I'll just sift icing sugar over the top. Other times I've melted a slab of chocolate and drizzled it over the top. (my personal favourite!)
I usually bend the sides of the box down once the cake has cooled and trim them off, so that I still have a perfect sized base for the cake to sit on and not feeling like we should be making a toast to Charles Glass while we're cutting the cake.

But this time, we were so busy with the pizzas that we just didn't bother.

My son wanted to use up some meringues I had in the cupboard for the decoration - so we did a butter chocolate icing and plonked the meringues on the top. Not the prettiest - but hey, I'm guided by the birthday boy!!
This is the only birthday cake I've made that the children actually eat!! And most come back for seconds too!
PPS
I just have to say that my kitchen walls are NOT that colour - they are a far more delicate shade of grey-green

Ingredients:
500ml water (2 cups)
150ml oil (10 tablespoons)
90ml cocoa powder (6 tablespoons)
10ml vanilla essence (2 tsps)
8 large eggs
750ml castor sugar (3 cups)
875ml cake flour (3.5 cups)
30ml baking powder (6 tsps)