Gisela's Chocolate Cake

Gisela's Chocolate Cake with Gisela's Chocolate Rum Frosting. Photos by SDeluz

Cake is often the dessert of choice for meals at ceremonial occasions, particularly weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays. There are countless cake recipes; some are bread-like, some rich and elaborate and many are centuries old. Cake making is no longer a complicated procedure; while at one time considerable labor went into cake making (particularly the whisking of egg foams), baking equipment and directions have been simplified that even the most amateur cook may bake a cake.

It's the birthday of my landlady, Gisela, and I have no idea for a perfect gift. I know she will be having guests over and back home, the cake is always the center of any birthday which is unlike here. So, an idea soon came to mind. Bake a cake that is not a typical sweet cake for Filipino taste. The best moist chocolate cake recipe is made for the sweet-toothed Filipinos. So better a cake that will have less sugar and no butter for low calorie check. Happy to say she and her friend liked it! So here it is:

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk

1 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 pack vanillazucker (vanilla sugar)

1/2 cup hot water with 2 heaping tablespoon of instant coffee

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C. 

2. Prepare desired pan. Grease it with vegetable oil and dust with cocoa. I prefer using silicon pan, so no need to grease.

3. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. 

4. Add the oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla, mixing until smooth. 

5. Important to stir in the hot coffee last when all is properly incorporated. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

I doubled this recipe to make the cake shown in the picture above. There was enough batter left to make 6 cupcakes. 

Tip: Cool the cake before frosting.

What I did was I cut the top part of the cake which looks like a dome. That's good also to snack on. Cut also the cake in the middle to put frosting in between. Make sure to dust off any crumbs before putting any frosting. For the frosting, I was out of vanilla so I experimented and used rum instead. Worked as well! See Gisela's Chocolate Rum Frosting. Decorate with ardor!