‘Fudgy yet fluffy’: Donna Hay promises this is the best chocolate cake

The world is full of delicious chocolate cakes, but when Donna Hay declares one ‘the best’, you know it’s not an empty promise.

The “fudgy yet fluffy” creation features in the Aussie food icon’s new cookbook, and this time, she has the young budding bakers of the world in her sights. Yes: this one’s for the kids.

Kids Baking promises to make baking “simple, achievable and delicious” and build confidence in the kitchen – without fixating on perfection.

“The kitchen is a place for creating, not for being perfect,” Hay writes in the book’s introduction.

“Sometimes things will be neat, sometimes they’ll be a little messy or wonky, and that’s exactly how real baking works.”

If baking is on the agenda this weekend in your household, here are three mouth-watering cakes from the book to try.

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The Best Chocolate Cake

Serves 10–12

Ingredients

• 1 cup (250ml/8½ fl oz) water
• 200g (7 oz) unsalted butter, chopped
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¾ cup (75g/2¾ oz) cocoa powder
• 1½ cups (330g/11½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• ¾ cup (180g/6¼ oz) firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 cups (450g/15¾ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup (240g/8½ oz) sour cream

Chocolate frosting

• 500g (1 lb 2 oz) milk chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1⅔ cups (400g/14 oz)
• sour cream, extra, at room temperature

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. Lightly grease 2 x 20cm (8 in) round cake tins and line with non-stick baking paper.
3. Place the water, butter and vanilla into a medium saucepan over low heat. Sift over the cocoa powder and stir until combined and the butter is melted. Remove from the heat. Add the caster and brown sugars and stir until combined.
4. Sift together the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
5. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and whisk until the yolks and whites are combined.
6. Add the eggs, the cocoa mixture and sour cream to the flour mixture. Use a whisk to mix together until smooth.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
8. To make the chocolate frosting, place the melted chocolate and extra sour cream into a mixing bowl and mix until smooth.
9. To assemble, place one cake on a serving plate and spread with ⅓ of the frosting. Top with the other cake and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides to cover.

Note: If your frosting is too runny to ice your cake then just let it chill out in the fridge for a few minutes. It will thicken up quickly, but if it chills too much and is not as smooth and spreadable as you want, warm it up in the microwave in 5-second bursts to soften it.

The Most Fun Funfetti Cake

If you ask Hay, this is “basically a party hiding inside a cake”. What more could you want?

Serves 10–12

Ingredients

• 125g (4½ oz) unsalted butter, chopped and softened
• 1 cup (220g/7¾ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup (180ml/6 fl oz) milk
• 1¾ cups (260g/9 oz)
• plain (all-purpose) flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ cup (40g/1½ oz) sprinkles

To decorate

• 1 cup (250ml/8½ fl oz) pure (whipping) cream
• ½ cup (125ml/4 fl oz) double (thick) cream
• 2 tablespoons sprinkles, extra

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. Lightly grease a 20cm (8 in) round cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper.
3. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium–high speed for 6–8 minutes or until pale and creamy.
4. Add the vanilla, eggs and milk and beat for 2 minutes. The mixture will look curdled – don’t worry.
5. Sift the flour and baking powder over the butter mixture and beat for 4 minutes or until light and creamy.
6. Add the sprinkles and fold through to combine.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top using the back of a spoon. Bake for 50–55 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
8. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
9. When you are ready to decorate, place the pure cream and double cream into a clean bowl. Using the electric mixer with the whisk attachment or a handheld electric mixer, whisk the cream until soft peaks form.
10. Place the cake on a serving plate or cake stand and spread the top with cream. Scatter the extra sprinkles over the top and slice to serve.

Note: Depending on where you live, the sprinkles for this cake could be called a different name – what you are looking for are long and not-too-thin multi-coloured sprinkles.

Super Easy Strawberry Cake

Hay goes so far as to label this the “easiest cake you’ll ever make”.

“It is so easy to mix together, you just need a bowl and a whisk. Get creative and top it with any fruit you have handy – fresh or frozen, it all works,” she says.

Serves 12

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Ingredients

• 400g (14 oz) strawberries
• 2 eggs
• ⅔ cup (160ml/5½ fl oz) vegetable or light-flavoured extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup (125g/4½ oz) plain thick Greek yoghurt
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
• 1 cup (220g/7¾ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 cup (80g/2¾ oz) desiccated coconut
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1¾ cups (260g/9 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 2 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar, extra, for sprinkling

To serve

Extra plain thick Greek yoghurt or vanilla ice-cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. Lightly grease a 20cm x 30cm (8 in x 12 in) slice tin and line with non-stick baking paper.
3. Remove the green stems and leaves from the strawberries and slice each strawberry in half.
4. Place the eggs, oil, yoghurt, lemon rind and sugar into a large bowl and whisk until combined.
5. Add the coconut, baking powder and flour and mix until combined.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Top the cake with the strawberries.
7. Sprinkle with the extra sugar.
8. Bake for 45–50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before serving warm, or cool completely in the tin. Slice and serve with extra yoghurt or vanilla ice-cream.

Note: Be adventurous – you can swap the fruit topping on this cake for almost any sliced fruit, so let your imagination run wild with any combination you love. I want you to make this cake to delight your tastebuds!

Find these recipes and more in Donna Hay Kids Baking, on sale now. Published by Fourth Estate. RRP $55