Because we don’t have an oven in our RV we have to be a little creative sometimes. And sometimes we do crave chocolate cake! Sure, we can go and buy one at the bakery, but it’s not the same as a home-baked one, so we’ve perfected a chocolate cake baked in the frying pan and it’s really delicious.
Chocolate cake
7 tablespoons of lukewarm water
7 tablespoons of lukewarm milk
½ teaspoon of instant coffee (can be left out)
½ teaspoon of lemon juice
½ a teaspoon of vanilla sugar (or the vanilla type of your choice)
5 tablespoons of wheat flour
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
½ a teaspoon of baking powder
7 tablespoons of sugar
7 tablespoons of basic tasteless oil (sunflower or grapeseed)
egg
Oil and flour for the pan
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Make sure the egg is fully mixed into the cake mix as well.
Do not get tempted to put chocolate chunks or nuts in the cake mix. We’ve already tested this and unfortunately, they fall to the bottom and get burned.
If you want to put a personal touch on your cake, you can experiment with things such as changing the lemon juice to orange juice, concentrated pomegranate juice, or a tablespoon of your favorite marmalade/jam.
How to bake it
Put a little oil in the frying pan and spread it to the edges of the pan too, with a brush, a piece of kitchen towel, or your fingers. Add a little flour to the pan and shake the pan gently until the flower sticks to all of the oil. If there are any dry spots dab oil there and sprinkle with flower.
Put the cake mix gently into the frying pan. Be careful not to ruin the oil and flour coating.
(If you’re wondering if it takes a special frying pan to bake this cake, the answer must be no. We cook on gas and have this, rather simple, light weight frying pan).
Turn on the stove on low heat and begin baking your cake while keeping an eye on it. Put a lid on the frying pan or make one from tin foil. Bake the cake for 15-20 minutes on low heat. Remove the lid in the last 5 minutes, so the cake will not turn out wet on the top.
If you feel the cake is about to get burned in the bottom, turn off the stove for a minute or two to let it rest a little. Don’t remove the lid. The heat from the frying pan captured under the lid will keep on baking the cake while it’s resting. After a few minutes, continue to bake the chocolate cake on low heat.
Check to see if the cake is done by sticking a fork into it in the middle. If there’s cake mix sticking to the fork, it needs a little longer, but if the fork comes up clean, the cake is done.
Move the cake to a plate or a wire rack to cool off. Eat it like it is or put some topping on it such as icing, whipped cream and fruit, or melted chocolate.
Who says living without a stove has to be boring and without homebaked chocolate cake? Or yummy Naan bread for that matter.
