The Chocolate Cake We Grew Up On

Every family seems to have that recipe.

The one that appears at birthday parties, Sunday dinners, family gatherings and random Tuesday afternoons when someone decides cake sounds like a good idea.

For our family, this is that cake.

My mum has been making it for as long as I can remember. It's the cake that appeared whenever people were coming for dinner. The cake that sat on the kitchen bench waiting for hungry kids after school. The cake that somehow managed to feed a crowd with absolutely no forward-planning.

It's moist, chocolatey, ridiculously easy to make and stays fresh for days.

In fact, if there are leftovers (which is rare), you can cut it into pieces and freeze it for school lunches.

And while it's excellent with a simple chocolate icing, growing up our favourite version was always the birthday cake version.

We called it the Lolly Cake.

You got to choose a few bags of your favourite lollies and absolutely COVER the top of the cake. The more colourful, the better. Looking back, it was probably less cake and more lolly, but we loved it.

The best part? You don't even need to get the beaters out.
Just one saucepan, one bowl and a spoon.
Exactly the kind of recipe every family needs.

Toni's Family Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 225g butter
• 1 cup water
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C and grease a large rectangle casserole dish.
2. Place the butter, water and cocoa into a saucepan. Heat until the butter has melted.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and vanilla.
5. Pour the hot cocoa mixture and the egg mixture into the dry ingredients.
6. Stir until everything is well combined.
7. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30–40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Simple Chocolate Icing

I never really measure this part.

Place about 4 tablespoons of softened butter into a bowl, then add icing sugar, cocoa and a splash of milk until you reach a smooth, spreadable consistency.

Spread generously over the cooled cake.