A Glimpse of Heaven

I have always loved my food, and believe a good meal possesses divine, curative powers that can heal the body, mind and spirit, precisely why there is chicken soup for the soul and also why one is always asked to feed the cold.

I cannot accurately recall when was the first time I felt so passionately about food, but it was probably around the time I was packed off to boarding school. Eating cold fried eggs and surviving on dry, thin rotis made me gain new found respect and love for the proverbial "ma ke haath ka khaana". My mum realized that too and made sure I went back to school from the holidays looking like a turkey before Thanksgiving. It was her way of showering love, and I was not complaining. One tradition in particular made me feel truly loved and pampered - the glimpse of chocolate heaven she'd conjure and have waiting at the breakfast table on the very first morning of my vacations, summer or winter.

When I decided to start my own food blog, I mulled for nearly two days over what would make the ideal first post. I debated between writing a review on my recent visit to a Mexican restaurant and my critique on blueberry cheesecakes found at different outlets across the city. Neither seemed to fit the bill. Meanwhile, I made an unannounced trip home, and when I did not find my Glimpse of Heaven at the breakfast table the following morning, I knew what I had to get cracking at.

And this is how I got baking the very first chocolate cake of my life. Recipe below:

Ingredients
For the chocolate cake:
Ground Sugar - 1 cup
Refined Flour - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 4 tsps
Refined Oil - 3/4 th cup
Eggs (at room temperature) - 3
Vanilla Essence - A few drops
Milk - 2 tbsps


For the icing:
Unsalted butter - 2 tbsps
Cocoa powder - 3 to 4 (heaped) tbsps
Ground Sugar - 2 tsps
Grated Chocolate - Plenty


Method 
For the cake:

• Begin with pre-heating the oven at 320 degrees or Gas mark 6
• Grease your baking tin with some oil and baseline it with brown paper, greasing the same too
• Break the eggs into a bowl and add a few drops of the vanilla essence to them. Beat this mixture using an electronic blender, making sure you don't overdo the beating as that will ruin the cake. 
• Now add the oil to the sugar, and blend this mixture in a separate bowl
• Add the egg blend to the above mixture, blending simultaneously
• Sift the flour with the Baking and Cocoa powders. (Tip: Always sift twice for cakes)
• Now drizzle this dry mix spoon by spoon into the sugar and egg mix, folding it in. Fold gently, incorporating air all the time. You should be able to see bubbles in the mixture while doing this.
• Add the 2 tablespoons of milk to this and fold it in as well
• Pour this delicious mixture into your tin and bake it for 30 minutes

Within 10 odd minutes the kitchen, and most corners of your home will have the aroma of this lovely cake wafting in. *Drools while writing this and reminiscing*

• Once the cake has risen and is fully baked, place it outside and allow it to cool. Then cut it into two layers, horizontally. 

Method

For Decorating and Finishing:

• Boil 2 tablespoons of sugar and 3 of cocoa in half a glass of water till it forms a syrup. Remove from fire and allow to cool.
• Prick the lower layer of cake with fork and pour the syrup lavishly over it. 
• Prepare the icing for the cake by mixing together the unsalted butter, ground sugar, cocoa powder and grated chocolate.
• Spoon a part of the icing on the inside of the upper layer of cake and spread evenly.
• Place the upper half over the lower half of the cake and then douse the cake with the remaining chocolate syrup. This ensures the cake remains moist even when refrigerated. 
• Now spoon the icing on the top and sides of the cake and spread evenly. 
• Finish with drizzling the cake extravagantly with grated dark chocolate - Lindt in my case (or milk chocolate, if you prefer)
• Chill till required.

Now remove the cake from the fridge and cut yourself a generous slice. Do not wait for anything or anyone, simply DIG IN!!!

Sigh, what utter delight! If there be a heaven on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here...