Hello, Stranger.
Do you like what you see? I know what you're thinking. Getting involved with me is probably not the best idea, but seeing me in all my glory is triggering really shameful things in your head. It's alright, babe. I don't mind being ogled at. But you know what? Having me in your mouth is much more rewarding.
Yeah, lick your lips and anticipate how I'll taste when you run your tongue on me. It's alright if you bite, I don't mind if you're rough. I actually like it, knowing how you'll savour feeling and tasting me in your mouth: moist, creamy, and sweet. Bite into certain bits of me and I'll burst and have my juices coat your palette with a pleasant tangy flavor of strawberries.
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Gâteau au Chocolat et Fraises
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
1/2 cup water (or milk)
3 tbsp cooking oil (or butter)
1 small can (180 ml) condensed milk
4 tbsp salted butter
200 ml whipped cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup sliced fresh strawberries or strawberry filling
Directions
Making the Chocolate Cake
1. Line your baking tin with wax paper and grease the sides with butter. Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg. C (standard oven toaster temperature).
2. In a bowl, sift your flour and cornstarch twice. In some food blogs, I read that sifting the flour and cornstarch more than twice and letting it sit for at least two hours is much better. You could make your improvised cake flour ahead of time :D
3. Sift the baking powder over the cake flour and follow with your cocoa powder. Mix them together until they turn brown.
4. If you're using butter, cream it in a bowl together with sugar and add the milk and vanilla extract. Don't panic if curdling happens, it will go away once you add the dry mixture.
5. After whipping the milk, egg, and vanilla together, sift the dry chocolate mixture onto the wet ingredients. Mix well until the batter is smooth.
6. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. If you're using a normal, old-school oven toaster, cover the cake tin with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes. After that, turn the cake tin clockwise and bake for another 10 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in its center comes out clean.
7. Cool your cake layers on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature before chilling it in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
Making the Chocolate Fudge Frosting
1. Sift the cocoa powder into a clean bowl and add in the condensed milk. Whisk together until smooth and absent from lumps. If there are lumps, you could strain the mixture before cooking it on a double boiler.
2. If you don't have the metal bowl for the double boiler (cooking over a steaming pot of water), you could improvise. What I did was I put a big strainer over the pot and cooked my fudge in a clean baking tin.
3. Gently stir your fudge over the double boiler for 5-6 minutes. When you've strained your fudge beforehand, it won't take long to cook it over the steaming pot of water. Most people do the back-of-the-spoon test, where you take some fudge with a spoon and run your finger on the back of it. What you should get looks like this.
4. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in your butter until it dissolves into the fudge and give it a glossy finish. Set aside.
Making the Whipped Cream
1. Place a bowl over a tray of ice. Pour your whipping cream and add vanilla extract and sugar.
2. Whisk the ingredients together until the cream reaches the stiff peak stage. Chill the cream in the fridge and set aside.
To Assemble the Cake
1. I used sandwich tins, so I simply trimmed off the bumpy top parts before adding the strawberry filling (or fresh strawberry slices if they're available).
2. Next, get the whipped cream from the fridge and add 1/4 cup's worth on top of the strawberry filling. gently spread and level with a cake spatula.
3. Carefully add the other cake layer and gently push it down to level the cake.
4. Add 1/4 cup of fudge frosting on top of the cake and spread with a cake spatula. Add more fudge around the sides and level with the spatula.
5. Return the cake in the fridge and chill for 15 minutes.
6. After 15 minutes, decorate the cake however you want :D I simply added whole strawberry filling bits in the middle and added some whipped cream blobs around the border and let it trickle down the sides of the cake. 'Simplicity is best,' as my friend Jake would say.
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If it's not the sinful experience that you crave, let me offer you comfort. I could sweeten your bad day, even if you will regret it the next morning when you step on the weighing scale. If you're not satisfied with me, we could have my friends Ben and Jerry and we could have a slow, gentle, and comforting couch session until you pass out. We won't judge you for occasionally crying out someone's name or sobbing while you sleep. It's okay, people have their bad days sometimes.
What are you waiting for, baby? Come here and have me. Get as dirty as you want and let my taste linger in your mouth. I'm sure when you're done with me, you'll be haunted with really sweet dreams; dreams that will get you hot, bothered, and hungry.
I'll be waiting right here with my layers exposed for your viewing pleasure.
Teasingly yours,
'Choco-Strawberry'
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