But other than that it came off... well, not without a hitch but at least without any more oven cleaning.
It's a little crumblier than usual too, and I'm not quite sure why, but it's still pretty moreish :D I did go back for a second slither... I'm going to cut myself a piece for tomorrow (a post-dentist treat... although I will just have to stare at it longingly until the anaesthetic wears off) and the rest is going in the communal kitchen and I just hope it gets eaten up!
I took a few more photos too, to better show how to do the marbled effect.
But first, have a revised recipe that will fit nicely into a 21cm pan.
For the sponge
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz margarine/butter
4 oz self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp baking powder (approx)
2 tbsp cocoa powder (approx)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the fudge icing
2oz margarine/butter
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp cocoa
About 10oz icing sugar?
Marbling the cake
So, like I said, step one is put some vanilla blobs in the pan, with gaps...
Then sift some cocoa into the mixture in the bowl (or I suppose you could use food colouring instead! I really want to try a red marble sometime... maybe red and green for xmas? Or would that just merge into the horrible sludge colour you get when you mix too much paint together...?)
Anyway, now place the chocolate bits around and on the vanilla, filling all the gaps. I had a bit less chocolate than vanilla in the end, but it's better than being the other way round because the chocolate tends to dominate.
Then give your mixture one good swirl and carefully level off the cake if you feel a need to... It is quite a thick mixture!
Hey presto... marble! People are always very impressed and want to know the secret ;)
Anyway, out it came and I was pretty chuffed!
Until I looked at it from a different angle...
Excuse me, why did you sink like that? Ah well, like I said, this cake is forgiving... a little fudge icing and no-one's the wiser ;)
I took it back to my room after icing so I could take photos and eat in peace ;) I do feel a bit silly taking photos of stuff in the kitchen... so far no-one has walked in! You wouldn't believe the mess the plate was in after icing, it took a few paper towels to get the excess icing off the white plate...
I got my slice and, apart from the aforementioned vanilla-y-ness, it was fine. Not the best one I've ever made, perhaps not as moist as usual either, but I think I did leave it in the oven a tad too long. I'm very used to having an oven with a window at home so not being able to see what's going on is quite scary for me!
Et voila. It will now be taken back to the kitchen, with a note attached, begging people to eat it! I don't want it sitting in here tempting me with it's siren call...
By the way, you know I called this 'the cake that will make you friends'? It did! The first person that came in asked what I was making and then offered to let me borrow her mixer and a larger bowl! It really made the cake all the sweeter ;) So baking does seem to be doing it's job... making me stay in the kitchen and talk to (some) of the people who come in.
Don't I have my own mixer? Weee-ell... no. I came to uni having been told that the kitchen situation would be dire (it is, it's one between about 12 people and we're very very lucky to have an oven) so I decided not to bring any baking equipment with me. So what prompted me to start baking again? Two lovely American bakers who did a book signing at our local Waterstones, and I shall talk about that in my next post...
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