"Sloppy" Chocolate Cake

Here is the inaugural recipe from my Nanna's recipe book.
I chose this cake because it is something that I always loved to discover in one of Nanna and Grandy's cake tins.   And besides, what could be wrong about a cake that needs to be made in a roasting dish...right?

My volunteer assistant happily stirring the pot.

Ok, so I am beginning to think that there was something magical about Nanna's oven.  Everytime anything was cooked in it, it turned out perfectly.  No oven I've used since has compared.  My oven in Munich is small and it doesn't have a window so peeking at a cake is a perilous endeavour which has previously resulted in a sunken cake.  I cannot count the times I have said "I swear, this is not how my nanna made it!" over the past month or so.  I am also struggling with a lack of scales and a dodgy and inconsistent website weight conversion.  Most of Nanna's recipes are in ounces which makes baking a whole lot of fun when you are sans scales.

Anywho, this cake is easy as pie to make but I would recommend that you double the recipe - either that or measure your ingredients out properly.  The batter for this cake only filled a deep-sided roasting dish 3/4 and it didn't really rise.  This is why I think Nanna may have sneakily doubled the recipe when she made it.  I have also been doing some research though and many people seem to have trouble with the baking powder (backpulver) and baking soda (natron) which you can get in Germany.  I'd be interested to see whether anyone else had some interesting end results with this cake.

In the end, my not so high and a little goey (the bottom was a little sloppier than normal) was a taste sensation and we are happily scoffing it.


Sloppy Chocolate Cake


Ingredients
3oz butter
6oz sugar
1 dessert spoon golden syrup
1/2cup milk

Then....
8oz flour
1 dessert spoon cocoa powder
1tsp BP

Lastly...
1/2cup warm milk
1tsp baking soda

The finished cake batter.

Method:
1.  Melt the first set of ingredients in a pot.

2.  Once melted, add flour, cocoa and BP and mix well.

3.  Lastly, add the BS to the warm milk.  Add this to the other mixture and stir well.
(the mixture should look something like the picture and is quite runny for a cake batter).

4.  Pour batter into a greased roasting tray - based on the results of my effort, I would recommend lining the tin with baking paper as well.

5.  Bake in a moderate oven for 20-30mins until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

My Nanna's recipe says to either eat the cake as a pudding with cream/ice-cream and fruit or you can ice the cake with standard chocolate icing.  Either is tasty!