HEAVENLY (AND EASY) CHOCOLATE CAKE

This really is the easiest, most heavenly tasting rich chocolate cake. It turns out perfectly every time. In our house it gets polished off within a day. You can ice it with chocolate frosting or pour over some melted chocolate. Its also wonderful eaten plain with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. The trick to its sucess is making sure the egg whites are well beaten with an electric beater till stiff.

(Oh, and to make sure credit is given where it is due, this recipe comes from the back of a Nestle Cocoa Tin)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• ½ cup hot water
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3 Eggs (separated)
• 1 cup Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 205^o Celsius.
2. Grease one 22cm (9 inch) cake tin with some oil or margerine. The springform ones work well.
3. Mix cocoa and hot water together and allow to cool.
4. Separate the eggs. The easiest way to do this is to crack them into a saucer and put a small cup or glass over the yolk and pour off the egg white into a bowl.
5. Whip the egg whites till stiff.
6. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
7. In another bowl, mix together the egg yolk, oil, sugar, vanilla and cocoa mixture. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix well.
8. With a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the rest of the mixture (fold just means stir it in gently by hand).
9.  Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
10.  Check if it is done by sticking a skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out dry, the cake is done.
11. Don’t forget to lick the mixing bowl. The batter tastes divinely chocolaty.