Chocolate Bundt Cake (a nostalgic dessert)

I was kind of having a baker's block (It doesn't happen only to writer's!), I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to bake. I had plenty of recipes bookmarked, but nothing seemed appealing at that moment. Suddenly a cake popped into mind. A cake I haven't thought of in years, but use to be my favorite cake in the whole entire world. This simple chocolate cake was my birthday cake almost every year.  I remembered my mom got the recipe from a friend and wrote it down in one of her recipe notebooks. I also remember the cake being insanely moist, which was what I loved about it. I decided I would find this cake recipe and bake it, you know, for old time's sake. 

The big difference between me and mom can be seen by how we organize our recipes. I have different folders for breads, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies etc and they are all organized alphabetically (am I a little crazy?). So finding a recipe isn't hard to do. Now my mom is exactly the opposite - the recipes are all over the place in random notebooks. Luckily, I thought I remembered where the recipe was, and indeed after about 10 minutes - success! 

As you can see all that was listed were the cake's ingredients, and even more ridiculous it says to bake for 25 to 50 minutes!

The cake is meant to be baked in a 9-inch springform pan, but I decided to use a bundt pan, which wasn't the best idea but it worked. I topped the cake with a wonderful chocolate ganache, and some sprinkles. I know now that the secret to this cake being so moist is the oil - no butter is needed. Though not my favorite anymore (I like my chocolate cakes deep, dark and extra rich!) It is really a great cake.

Nostalgic Chocolate Cake

Printable Recipe

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 170C. Butter a 9 inch springform pan (or a bundt pan).

Combine both sugars and flour in a medium bowl. Add the cocoa, baking powder, baking soda & salt. 

In bowl of electric mixer combine the milk, oil, vanilla & eggs. Mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Pour in the boiling water and mix for about 10 seconds, the batter will be very liquidy. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 30 - 40 minutes (if using a bundt pan bake time will be 25 - 30 minutes). Cool completely, and spread chocolate ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

Makes about 1 1/4 cups

2/3 cup heavy cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.