Daily challenge: I kill plants that are growing in pots without fail, but I think I might do better with an actual garden! I'd probably grow a lot of herbs- especially some of the weirder ones like borage and lemon balm because they can be tasty and good for tea, respectively- and a lot of flowers, especially roses that are that really pretty shade somewhere in between cream and gold with orange and pink highlights. I'd also want a sugar maple tree, which is completely unrealistic, but hey- no limitations, right? They're really pretty and can also be useful if you know what to do with them, which I do not.
Also my actual recipe! Neither picture is the best, but oh well.
This cake is actually pretty easy to make for those who don't bake much, but it was my first time making it, so it was a bit of an adventure. I couldn't find the usual cake recipe and due to sickness/scheduling constraints, I had a small window of time to make it. There were a few things that went wrong- for example, for some reason we only had bread flour (which is different from regular flour in terms of gluten and protein content, making anything with it chewier and breadier) but it actually turned out pretty well! The frosting is really sweet whereas the cake itself is not, which was probably due at least a little bit to the bread flour. If you want to try it with bread flour, I would recommend using at least as much regular flour as well. Adapted from here.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the pan (9x13, which generally also works for two circle pans, either 8-inch or 9-inch). Mix three cups of flour (all-purpose or bread cup-for-cup, if you want to use cake flour it might not work and you'll have to do a lot of math and/or research), two cups of sugar, one teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of baking soda, and (sift this one! cocoa powder has a lot of lumps) 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. If you want to add a few teaspoons extra of that, that's fine too. In a separate bowl, mix two cups of water, three tablespoons of canola or other neutral oil (not peanut or olive, for example, unless you want peanut chocolate cake), two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (the specific type doesn't really matter as long as it's edible and not balsamic or otherwise flavored) and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. (Mixing flour too much can increase the gluten and lead to the cake tasting weird, so don't mix more than you need to.) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 30 minutes- until a toothpick inserted in various places on the cake comes out clean and it doesn't collapse when you touch it. Let it cool on a wire rack.
When the cake is mostly cool, start working on the frosting. Don't start it right away or else you're going to end up with a hot cake and rapidly hardening frosting, which is against some fundamental principle of baking. I did have to do that and it turned out fine, but it was a pain to cool. You can use your own chocolate frosting or the recipe's, in which you combine one and a half cups of sugar, three tablespoons cocoa powder (which you still have to sift), and 1/3 cup of both milk and butter in a small pot. Let it boil over medium heat for five minutes and never stop stirring it. Turn off the stove, add a teaspoon of vanilla, and stir again until it starts to thicken. Spoon it over the cake and spread quickly. Add sprinkles quickly or else they're going to fall off.
Enjoy! I have no idea why my pictures are sideways, by the way. Oh, well.
Also my actual recipe! Neither picture is the best, but oh well.
Chocolate Wacky Cake with Bread Flour, Chocolate Icing, and Pink Sprinkles
This cake is actually pretty easy to make for those who don't bake much, but it was my first time making it, so it was a bit of an adventure. I couldn't find the usual cake recipe and due to sickness/scheduling constraints, I had a small window of time to make it. There were a few things that went wrong- for example, for some reason we only had bread flour (which is different from regular flour in terms of gluten and protein content, making anything with it chewier and breadier) but it actually turned out pretty well! The frosting is really sweet whereas the cake itself is not, which was probably due at least a little bit to the bread flour. If you want to try it with bread flour, I would recommend using at least as much regular flour as well. Adapted from here.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the pan (9x13, which generally also works for two circle pans, either 8-inch or 9-inch). Mix three cups of flour (all-purpose or bread cup-for-cup, if you want to use cake flour it might not work and you'll have to do a lot of math and/or research), two cups of sugar, one teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of baking soda, and (sift this one! cocoa powder has a lot of lumps) 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. If you want to add a few teaspoons extra of that, that's fine too. In a separate bowl, mix two cups of water, three tablespoons of canola or other neutral oil (not peanut or olive, for example, unless you want peanut chocolate cake), two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (the specific type doesn't really matter as long as it's edible and not balsamic or otherwise flavored) and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. (Mixing flour too much can increase the gluten and lead to the cake tasting weird, so don't mix more than you need to.) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 30 minutes- until a toothpick inserted in various places on the cake comes out clean and it doesn't collapse when you touch it. Let it cool on a wire rack.
When the cake is mostly cool, start working on the frosting. Don't start it right away or else you're going to end up with a hot cake and rapidly hardening frosting, which is against some fundamental principle of baking. I did have to do that and it turned out fine, but it was a pain to cool. You can use your own chocolate frosting or the recipe's, in which you combine one and a half cups of sugar, three tablespoons cocoa powder (which you still have to sift), and 1/3 cup of both milk and butter in a small pot. Let it boil over medium heat for five minutes and never stop stirring it. Turn off the stove, add a teaspoon of vanilla, and stir again until it starts to thicken. Spoon it over the cake and spread quickly. Add sprinkles quickly or else they're going to fall off.
Enjoy! I have no idea why my pictures are sideways, by the way. Oh, well.
nightskyseer |answers to parts of username or Spectral|she/her/they/them | fr time +0
