When I had Bawstin and InspectorG over the other weekend, I did my best to act calm, cool and collected in the kitchen as I rushed to get ready. I have no idea why I felt the need to portray myself in such a manner, as they know the truth about who I really am. I am positive calm, cool, nor collected are words they would choose to describe me.

As I juggled the menu, readjusting cooking times to compensate for Bawstin’s late arrival(damn you, US Government, for holding up my dinner party!), I dumped the batter for this cake in to what I thought was a 9″ round cake tin. I saw InspectorG give the very full pan a sideways glance, but I chose to ignore him. I plugged away and brushed away the warning signs of an impending disaster.

About an hour later, we were all sitting on the couch as the cake baked. The wine floweth, the conversation pinged around with ease…and a smell crept in to the living room. The smell of burned cake, to be exact. FUCK! I ran in to the kitchen, threw the oven open and saw a perfectly formed circle of spilled cake sitting below the pan…the molten batter had crept over the edges. This prompted InspectorG to proclaim “I knew that pan was too full!” Of course, his proclamation annoyed the hell out of me. God dammit, screwing up is bad enough…I do not need someone WHO HAD NEVER HAD SOUP UNTIL COLLEGE schooling me on how to cook.

So, yes, the pan was too small…I accidentally used an 8″ round…size matters and do not let anyone tell you otherwise!! But, this cake was incredibly awesome once I pried it away from the charred edges of it’s vessel. Also, whipped cream can cover a multitude of sins…pay no attention to the ragged edges. It was moist and rich and decadent and all that is right with the world.We tore through this thing at an alarming rate and those boys only made fun of me for about 5 minutes. Once they tasted this, all was forgiven.

One Pan Mocha Cake

From Pittsburgh Needs Eated

1/3 cup (35g) dutch process cocoa powder
75g unsalted butter (about 6 tbsp)
1/3 cup (80ml) light olive oil
2/3 cup strong black coffee, cooled (or 3 tsp instant espresso powder dissolved in 2/3 cup boiling water)
90g (about 3 ounces) good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
250g castor sugar (about 1 cup + 2 tbsp) NOTE: castor sugar is superfine sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (185g) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup (80ml) buttermilk (or sour cream or yogurt, in a pinch)

1. Preheat your oven to 150C/300F. Butter a 23cm/9in round cake pan (preferably 3 inches high). Line the base with buttered parchment paper, then dust the pan with flour. Shake out the excess flour and set aside.

2. Put the cocoa, butter, oil, and coffee into a largish saucepan. Bring them to the boil over medium heat, stirring frequently until the mixture is silky, then take it off the heat. Add the chocolate and sugar and whisk them in until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

3. Once the mixture has cooled, add the egg and vanilla extract, whisking them in thoroughly. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir them in until they’re just combined. Whisk in the buttermilk.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and give it a gentle shake to level it out. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Invert the cake onto a rack, remove the paper and leave it to cool completely.

5. When you’re ready to serve, transfer the cake to a serving plate. Just before serving, spread the cream on top, then use the back of a spoon to swirl it a bit. To finish off, grate some chocolate on top.