A Frugal Night and One Sinful Chocolate Cake

Moments

I could not fit into my pants.  And I know the culprit.

It is called “The Most Sinful Chocolate Cake”.  And when Connie of HomeCookingRocks.com wrote about it, I knew I had to try to make it for one of my “frugal nights”.

A little backtrack.  I started having “frugal nights” because I was getting frustrated with the restaurant scene where I was paying so much for food.  Especially dessert.

It’s crazy.

A Starbucks chocolate cake, favorite of Lori of DessertComesFirst.com, which of course got my interest – will set me back by P95 (USD$3).  Banana fritters (turon) at the Kanin Club is P135 (USD$3.50) – and that’s just banana in lumpia wrapper dressed in macapuno, ube jam and red beans (without ice cream!).  Even the cafeteria at the office sells queso de bola cheesecake for P100 (USD$2.50).

I thought I’ve had enough (I also needed to rein in my entertainment budget) so I have been looking for do-able dessert recipes (I even downloaded the Betty Crocker Cookbook on my iPhone). And none is more attractive than the sexy chocolat.

But a caveat: I am not a cook (I see hubby vigorously nodding here).  But I can follow instructions.  I think.

And it was the most sinful chocolate cake.  The best of the best. I had to try.

Baking, too, is a bonding moment that I can have with my daughter who is growing up so fast. (sigh)

This recipe only cost me some P300 (USD$7) for one whole cake: dark chocolate (P130 or USD$3), butter (P100 or USD$2.50), 4 eggs (P30 or USD$.75), sugar (P30 or USD$.75) and flour (P10 or USD$.10).

One whole luscious cake.

I cannot repeat it enough – it was amazing.  And sinful.  And I have baked it three times for the past 2 months.  When Connie puts in a word of caution in her blog and recommends having it every six months (smile)  And now I cannot fit into my pants (moan).

Here’s the recipe:

200 grams of dark chocolate

200 grams of butter

1 cup of sugar

4 eggs

1 heaping tablespoon of flour

Melt dark chocolate with butter.   Cool the chocolate-butter mixture after.  Heat the oven at 250 degrees.

Add the sugar.

Add the eggs one at a time.  Mix after each addition.

Add 1 heaping tablespoons of flour.  Fold.

Put in the oven for 30 minutes.  Turn off.  Let it remain in the oven for 10 minutes so that the middle part will not sag.  Take out, put on a wire rack.  Cool and invert.

Happiness.

Some tips:

1. It is an easy recipe but a little hard to execute. (really)
2. Check your butter if it is really butter and not fake butter (margarine).  It should also be unsalted.
3. Connie says no peeping during the 30-minute cooking period.  But I cannot resist so I use a flashlight to make sure the cake is not getting burnt (because you will not be able to live with yourself if you let all that good chocolate go to waste).
4. You may want to open the oven a little bit for the cooling off period.  I found that the bottom and sides of my cake gets burnt during the 10-minute stay in the oven.
5. Cool it fully and then invert it on a plate. I never get to do this part because my daughter and I cut and eat it while it’s hot and gooey-good.  I will try it next time – in six months (yeah right).
6. For chocolates, try Van Houten chocolates.  Or any dark chocolate that you can get your hands on. I tried the no-brand dark chocolate from the neighborhood baking store and it worked perfectly too.  I also tried semi-sweet and it was not too sweet despite the 1 cup of sugar.  Connie swears by Ghirardelli, though (haven’t tried it).  But yes, it can be any cooking chocolate.
7. It is called the “most sinful” because it is really sinful.  There’s 200 grams of chocolate there and 1 package of butter and 1 cup of sugar and 4 eggs.  Try not to finish it all by yourself (please).

Happy baking and may you have many happy frugal nights.

P.S.  Please catch my webinar on How to Advance Your Finances at Medicol.ph.  It will be on October 29, 2010 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. You can register here.  You can also ask me questions during this webinar.  Hope you can join me!

Article by Issa.  Art by D. Copyright 2010.
Website: www.YouWantToBeRich.com
Email: issa@youwanttoberich.com

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