Food || Chocolate Cake in a Box – Easy Peasy!

This Valentine’s Day,

• are you married/dating/in a relationship and looking to do something special for your ‘special’ one?

• are you single and looking to do something special for yourself?

• are you sick of all the hoopla every year and will be busy at work only to return late at night with no time to do anything special, but that’s okay because it isn’t even a special day anyway?

• are you one of those eternal chocolate haters who will not touch anything with even a hint of chocolate in it?

If you’ve answered in the affirmative to any of the above, I have just the thing for you. If not, I still have just the thing for you. No matter what your stance in life, this cake cannot fail you. Fine Print: And if it does, well, then you don’t know me and I’ve never heard of you before. :D

It’s Chocolate Cake in  Box! Well, originally it’s not made in a box, but I made it and put in a box, and ate it out of the box, and then washed the box and put it away, and hence the name Chocolate Cake in a Box! And let me tell you, it was one of the best comfort foods ever. It is also gender-neutral. As in, people can make it and enjoy with ease regardless of gender. Especially so, if you're a guy looking to impress your woman. :D

I made this cake almost a year ago, when I had lunch with my two best girlfriends. We ordered in some Chinese food that day, kicked back on the couch and chatted away, and later for dessert, there were three spoons and my Chocolate Cake in a Box! Needless to say there was a lot of 'mmming' that followed. :D

So without further delay, I present to you the recipe of my Chocolate Cake in a Box! Okay, I’ll stop saying that now.

There are two parts to the recipe – The Cake and The Ganache.

The Cake - 

Believe me when I tell you this is the easiest and least messy cake to make in the world. No mixing bowls, no eggs, nothing!

• Preheat your oven/convection microwave/whatever it is you use to bake at 180C/350F for 10 minutes or so.
• Take an 8 inch square baking pan/dish/tin or any other shape that would hold the same volume. It must not be greased. In it, dump 1.5 cups maida (all purpose flour), 1 cup sugar that's been powdered, 1/4th cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1tsp baking pwd, 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/4th tsp salt. Mix it all up with a spoon. In order to avoid lumps, you can sift the dry ingredients first.

• Next, add 1/3rd cup melted butter (unsalted, room temperature), 1 cup warm water, 1tsp vanilla essence, 1 tbsp lime juice. Whisk it all around so there aren't any lumps in the batter.

• Stick the pan in the oven at the same temperature for about 30 minutes. Or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. 

• Cool the cake and put it in a Box! Or, just leave it in the pan and eat from it directly. Who cares, really?

The Ganache Frosting - 

The name might sound a bit fancy if you've never made this before, but again, it's really really simple. A child could make it.

• Take 50 g of Dark Chocolate and 50 g of Milk Chocolate. (Cooking chocolate that's available in any grocery store). You can substitute this with 100 g of semisweet chocolate if you like, or use more chocolate if you like it really sweet. I wanted it rather mild so everyone could enjoy it. 

• Chop up all the chocolate and place it in a bowl

• To this, add 3/4 cup or 180 ml of Amul Fresh Cream and 1 tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature). 

• Place a large bowl of water on the stove and bring it to boil. Then place the bowl of chocolate over the bowl of water, and keep stirring until everything melts and forms a smooth paste. It's really quite fun to do this.
• Remove from heat and allow it to cool to room temperature. Your ganache frosting is ready!

• You can pour this directly over the cake, or do what I did. Whip it! Preferably use an electric whisk or egg beater to save your arm from falling off. But it gets so much more creamier and yummier. Like this!

Note: This recipe has been adapted from this one, at JoyofBaking.

The ganache can be completed as the cake is baking. So once I had them both ready, I simply slathered the chocolate frosting all over the cake and took the box to my friend's. And then we dug in and this is what it looked like:

Huh, well won't you just look at that. Looks like we dug in pretty neatly. But feel free to make a mess as you please. After all chocolate is the tastiest when it's the messiest! :D

Happy Valentine's Day, folks! Lemme know what your plans are.

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