How to Bake a Cake
Baking a cake if often relegated to the cake mix aisle of your local supermarket. While there is an impressive selection of pre-made cake mixes to choose from, the customer has little control over the final outcome of their cake. What’s more, baking a cake from scratch is a simple process that allows the baker to have much greater control over what goes into their cake in terms of quality ingredients. They also have much more control over the appearance and taste of the finished product. While making a cake from scratch can be tricky, the end result will make you never want to try boxed cake again.
If you are making a cake for that special someone for their birthday, instead of getting low grade cocoa powder like that of a boxed cake mix, you can use quality cocoa. Or, instead of being forced into using cheap imitation extracts like those found in boxed mixes, you can take advantage of flavorful, quality extracts. Below is a simple, delectable cake recipe which is sure to be a hit with whoever you bake it for, even if it’s only for yourself.
Homemade Cake Recipes – Chocolate Cake
While there are many homemade cake recipes we feel that this classic chocolate cake recipe will be a good start.
For this recipe you will need:
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Step 1
How to Bake a Cake
Grease and flour two 9×1/2 inch cake pans, and set them aside. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and set them aside as well.
Step 2
Put the butter in a mixing bowl and mix it with an electric mixer (set on medium) for 30 seconds. Add the sugar and continue mixing until it’s well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one and wait until one is blended before adding another. Add the chocolate, vanilla, flour, baking soda and salt while continuing to mix. Add in 1 ¼ cups water and reduce the mixer speed to low. Mix until the batter is just combined. Do not over mix.
Step 3
Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The cake is done when you can insert a knife or toothpick into it and it comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and let them sit for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and let them cool until they can be handled without discomfort.
If you are like most people, you probably prefer your cakes to be frosted. While this is not always the case, it would seem that a majority of people like to eat their cake in this fashion. While you can use pre-made frosting, it seems a little odd to make a cake from scratch and then buy frosting.
Easy Cake Frosting
For this recipe you will need:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/8 cup Karo syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparing & Applying Cake Frosting
Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and raise temperature to a rapid boil. Boil the ingredients for roughly 1 minute and remove from heat to cool. Add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and stir it in thoroughly. Spread generously over the entire surface of the cake making sure not to leave any bare patches. How thickly you spread it is up to you. Also, for those that don’t like frosting but want to jazz up their cake in some other way, a light dusting of powdered sugar makes for an attractive finish. This method will not overpower the flavor of the cake itself like frosting often can.