Classic Italian Chocolate Cake

This cake doesn't only make a totally scrumptious cake with a burst of flavors in your mouth but it is so easy to bake too!

The Scrumptious Italian Chocolate Cake

A brief history into the past will give you an insight on why baking means so much to me. Yes we all love the smell of freshly baked goods, the crisp smell of a cake or a pie in the oven brings with a warm fuzzy nostalgia that a lot of us attach with Christmas, our childhood of Mum’s bakes or just that toasty cosy feeling that is aroused in us with the smell of baking.

Well mine is one step further that the familiar love of all things baking. I used to bake absolutely horrible “Rock” cakes. When I say rock cakes I actually don't mean the popular Irish tea time rock cakes but my cakes where simply...rock

Horribly and shamelessly crumbly rock cakes. My baking journey started at age 9 and I would say, I started on a fairly good note until something went horribly wrong. I began to feel like a pro and started slapping things in Italian Pizza Chef Style all weely neely into my baking bowl and boom out comes the delivery in the oven...Rock cakes! Can we have some tea?

After a while of these awful “Teatime Treats” I threw in the towel and ventured into other areas in the kitchen and that was it. Decades later when my husband sauntered along, he brought out the crave of baking again in me. I mean I wanted to be a good wife and bake me hubby something nice, fresh and wholesome at Christmas. After one of my servings of my delicious rock cake, he swallowed with a look I hadn’t quite seen before, took me by the hand and there began my informal class of baking module 101!

And see then I haven’t looked back, my passion came back with a bang when I humbled myself in the world of baking and began to lovingly honour my ingredients, recipes and measurements and Mother Baking smiled at me and yep I laughed right back!

Delicious chocolate Italian cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. An easy dessert that's sure to be a favorite in your home! It's delicious, spongy and has the "melt in your mouth" feeling going on! I hope you enjoy making it as much as I did!

Ingredients:

* 2 cups of flour

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 and 1/3 cup of margarine

* 1 and 1/2 cup of sugar

* 1 cup buttermilk

* 1 cup of shredded milk

* 1/3 chopped peanuts

Direction:

1. Put shredded coconut in a pan, tossing it around you want to toast it to a golden brown color for a few minutes. Once done, set aside.

2. Put peanuts on your chopping board and give them a rough quick chop! ¾ Cup of diced peanuts. Half set aside for cake garnish. Other half set aside with the rest of the cake ingredients.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease two 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans.

4. Put your margarine in your baking 1 and ⅓ cup of margarine (300g). Add sugar to it and mix on medium high speed for about 5 mins till butter becomes light airy and fluffy 1 and a half cups of sugar 300g of sugar.

5. Separate all five egg whites from the egg yolks. Put the yolks in the sugar butter mixture. Incorporate and mix thoroughly.

6. Add two teaspoons of vanilla extracts and mix in with eggs, sugar and butter mixture

300g of flour. 2 cups of flour. Now the dry ingredients. Measure out your flour and add in 35g of unsweetened cocoa powder to the flour.

7. Add 1 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda to dry ingredients. Also add in half a teaspoon of salt and give it all a quick milk.

8. Begin to add flour in batches to avoid lumps and clumps in batter. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk to batter in three phases to ensure a smooth creamy even batter

9. Add in toasted coconut flakes and peanuts to the batter. Give it a mix on low speed and careful not to overmix.

10. Go back to egg whites earlier set aside and you want to mix/whip egg whites in a separate bowl on high speed for about 5 mins till you achieve stiff white peaks.

11. Fold egg whites into your batter with your spatula. Remember to be gently at this stage because you don’t want to lose all the air locked in your batter as well as the egg whites.

12. Divide batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake at 180-190c for about 25-30min. Allow cakes to cool and ice or enjoy comme ca!