I had a craving….
…..for a delicious spicy rich carrot cake and was ready to make one when ‘cook’s intuition’ clicked in! I checked whether the four grandchildren would prefer carrot or chocolate cake? The consensus was 100% in favour of chocolate!
I immediately thought of Hillary Biller’s Chocolate and Buttermilk Cake. Hillary is the Food Editor of the Sunday Times, a well known cook book author and had a very practical cookery show on TV, where I think I first saw this recipe.
It is quick, easy and absolutely foolproof.
If I was making the cake for adult consumption I would have added a few chilli flakes, some cardamom and grated orange zest, but for the little ones I just stuck to chocolate and even added their favourite bits to decorate the cake.
The cake batter is very thin and Hilary recommends that you always use a ring cake pan. I reckon it will not cook through in a conventional pan.
I am always amazed at the light texture. If I had not had absolute confidence in Hilary’s skill and recipe I would have questioned only 5ml of bicarbonate of soda as a raising agent. The alkaline bicarb reacts with the acidity of the buttermilk to form CO2, the gas required to give texture. It works!
The result is a super moist light cake. The bicarb also ensures that it will be decadently dark in colour.
Two days later the remaining sliver of cake was still moist.
For adults I usually omit the icing and simply drizzle some melted dark and white chocolate over or serve it with a dollop of brandied cream, with a hint of grated orange zest.
For the kiddies I decadently pile the top with caramel popcorn, chocolate coated pretzels and malted chocolate balls. They loved it!
Am definitely going to try this
Looks yumm!
Hi Robyn. This does look very moist. Where does one buy the pre mix from?
Hi Belinda
There is no premix…. it is made from scratch!Give me a shout if you need help with the recipe. Regards Robyn