1 cup boiling water, divided
1 cup sugar
2 Tbs salad oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Melt chocolate over hot water. Add 1/2 cup boiling water; stir until custard like in consistency. Remove from heat. Add sugar and salad oil and mix well. Beat egg; add vanilla. Add remaining hot water. Bake in 8" square cake pan, 350 degrees, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on cake rack. Split into 2 layers. Fill and frost.
Becky: First of all, I make a lot of substitutions when I cook. I'm not going to run out to the store with my 3 kids to buy something crazy (but probably delicious) like liquid smoke. I make do with what I have or add the ingredient to my regular shopping list and make the recipe later. Since unsweetened chocolate is not a pantry staple for me, I did a quick search and found that 3 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips is the same as 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate plus 1 Tbsp sugar. Perfect, I have tons of chocolate chips. In this recipe I used 6 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips and a little less than the 1 cup of sugar called for.
I also don't have a double boiler, so I put some water in a stock pot and used a bowl set on top to melt the chocolate. After the chocolate melted and I adding the boiling water, I waited patiently for it to become "custard like in consistency." It never quite made it, so after about 15 minutes I decided it was thick enough and moved on.
I didn't realize the directions didn't mention adding the dry ingredients until I'd already begun the cake. I decided to assume Grossie meant to type "Add remaining hot water and dry ingredients." After adding the rest of the hot water I added the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. After cooking for 45 minutes, the cake was done, but the center had fallen in. After flipping it over onto my cutting board and frosting it you couldn't even tell it had collapsed. Okay, maybe you could still tell, but my kids were so excited about having dessert they didn't notice. In fact, they requested the middle of the cake and were very upset when I explained you can't start with the center.
I thought this cake was pretty good, but I'd like to try it again before I make a final judgement. Maybe I'll even buy unsweetened chocolate and measure my flour a little more carefully (did I mention I'm a lazy measurer?).
1/15/12
The first thing I have to say is that I have always made my chocolate cakes using a mix, since my only attempt at a scratch chocolate cake, the first year I was married 35 years ago, was awful. This recipe did not give directions concerning dry ingredients. I traded the oil in for margarine which I melted with the chocolate in a double broiler. Once it was melted, I added the boiling water and after it thickened, I added the vanilla and 3/4 c sugar allowing it to dissolve. Then I let it continue cooking until it thickened once again and set it aside to cool.
Next I mixed the dry ingredients along with the other 1/4 c of sugar together. I beat the egg and added it to the other 1/2 c water and added to dry ingredients and then added the melted chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients as well. I mixed it with a wire whip. The batter seemed rather thick and it did not have the taste I am used to mixes having. I baked it at 350 for 35 minutes. At this point, it had pulled away from the sides and was very dense, not having a bouncy feel when using the light touch to the top I usually use to check for doneness. It would not even give the slightest bit.
This cake recipe had mocha frosting recipe but since I do not use coffee, I used a chocolate frosting recipe from our collection instead.
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