Easy Chocolate cake with cocoa

I never even dreamed that baking a chocolate cake could be so easy until the time i actually did it. And then i had to kick myself that it took me so long. Really? why did nobody tell me before? You tried, huh? I just didn't hear it. I will surely try  harder to keep  my ears open next time.

Bored one day of watching repeats of "Food Paradise" on TLC, I started reading through blogs and suddenly noticed all these people who were not cooks until they got married and how so many seemed to be baking cakes with ease. So i decided it was time for me to try it too. A decision i will never regret. And once this decision was made all the required ingredients magically made their appearance in the supermarket aisle. OK, you guessed it right, i just never noticed them before when they were right in front of my eyes. A case of you only see what you want to see. They say that once you buy a car or intend to buy a car, you start seeing the same model and colour everywhere! Right, right, I am going off the topic. In my defense, i am new to this - writing about a single topic.

Let me start again, if you even remotely like chocolate you simple have to give this a try. You don't need frosting to make it taste good, you can serve it warm or cold and it will keep for a week in the refrigerator. 

The idea to bake this cake came from a recipe for egg-less chocolate cake from a vegetarian website. I read through the comments where someone suggested inclusion of eggs for a fluffier version and i came up with my own recipe. And i have baked it so many times now (having started about two months ago) that i will tell you the ingredients list and process even if you wake me up from my sleep.

Ingredients

2 eggs

5 tablespoons vegetable oil/ unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)

1/2 cup milk (approx 120 ml)

1 cup all purpose flour/ maida

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a baking tin of 7" diameter. (I generally use an 8"x8" square or 9"x13" rectangular pan, so an oven-proof container of approximate size will work).Whisk the eggs, oil and sugar together. 

Add the vanilla essence if using. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda. Now add the flour mixture and milk alternately into the egg mix and combine until it becomes a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the greased baking tin. 

Allow to bake in the 350F preheated oven for 22-25 minutes or until a wooden skewer (or toothpick) inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes. Gently unmould the cake and allow to cool completely before storing. 

Or you can have a slice while its warm. Hot cakes, they say, are impossible to resist!