Ava's Easy To Make Chocolate Cake :)

 It was the last day of Autumn and I'd planned an outing to a friends house to have cake and a cup of tea in the name of cancer research Australia's Biggest Morning Tea I was so looking forward to same but Master Picket Fence had other ideas and came down with a mighty big cold, and as those who have raised a two year old with a mighty big cold will attest....you wouldn't take them anywhere. We had a full day to spend at home and decided we'd whip up a cake to fill in some time.

  Now , I'm not the worlds best cook, I 'll announce that from the start, you will see my cake is unique looking , a little domed ...but we will get to that ;) First , here's a photo of my snuffly, cold ridden assistant.

This is a recipe out of my Grandmothers cook book, its filled with recipes such as " Ivy's lemon tarts" and " May's fruit cake"  from the days when you linked a good recipe to its owner. Days of community :) I remember these women, but they're names were prefixed with the word "Aunty" as in those times, a child always referred to adults as Mr or Mrs, never by a first name. Thus close family friends became Aunts and Uncles to differentiate between honorary family and outsiders. I think we all remember that era with fondness. It's a habit, these days, not seen so often.

OK, here's the ingredients..... you need around 125gms of butter, a dash of vanilla extract, 1 1/4 cups of caster sugar ( I let my hand slip here and add about I/4 more ..oops!) 1/2 a cup of cocoa, 2 eggs ( 3 if you like it muddy) 1 1/3 cups of self raising flour, about 2/3 cup of water.

 After  greasing your pan and preheating your oven to around 180 degrees Celsius. Throw it all in the large bowl of your electric mixer .Start on a low speed for about a minute and then wind it up to full speed for another 3 minutes . It should then look slightly paler...like this :)

 Bake it for around an hour trying not to burn the edges like I did (super cook I am not) and then let it cool in its tin for five minutes, turning it out onto a wire rack to go cold.

 Then its your choice, ice away or dust with icing sugar. Baby Picket Fence and I enjoyed ours with icing sugar, Mr Picket Fence enjoyed his with cream. The other Picket Fence children came home to a house that smelt like chocolate cake :) and I do believe had seconds.... Its a win win. Not a flash looking cake, but it's so easy, has a crunch to the outside ( the extra sugar) and a moistness to the inside.... big thumbs up in the family friendly ranks :)

  Hoping you have a lovely day, and fingers crossed the winter wind will blow the Picket Fence cold germs away :) Have a go at this easy cake and let me know what you think. We might call this one Ava's chocolate cake huh ? Perhaps :) Perhaps xx

Linking in today with Sarah's "abeachcottage"