Monday, September 2, 2013

30 Days of Cooking From Scratch! Day 1- Chocolate Cake with Frosting

 Here it is!!!! My big challenge to myself!!!!!
Remember how I said my husband wrote down that he would love me to make "gourmet" foods? LOL

Well, I have already been really thinking I want to make more foods from scratch.  It's so much better for us.  And you know what? It's not that much work! This challenge is for me to learn how to cook from scratch!!!! I admit...I am not a natural cook.  I don't loooovvvveee cooking.  Maybe it's because I never learned how to add proper flavors and everything.  I love the thought of cooking amazing food.

I love cooking shows.  I love serving from scratch chocolate cake to my family knowing I am not serving them a bunch of chemicals in box cake and canned frosting.  

I do love to bake, and I've always been good at that.  But let me tell you what....this month of September is putting me OUT of my comfort zone big time!!!!

 Yesterday I started with something I knew I could tackle.  A from scratch chocolate cake with my mother in law's homemade chocolate frosting recipe to top it off.  Oh yes.

Here's my stance on the subject.....I KNOW certain foods like sugar aren't the best for us.  But I also KNOW that we are going to eating treats every now and then!!! So how much better to make it from scratch like the good ole days then to buy it boxed, canned, or already made from the store?  It's a big difference!! And I am NOT judging anyone that makes cake from a box and uses canned frosting.  That is usually me.  When we got married 7 years ago, all I made was boxed and canned foods or frozen veggies and dry chicken. Trust me.  This is just me trying to grow and learn.  :)

Box cake ingredients vs cake from scratch:

Chocolate Cake From Scratch Ingredients:

 All-purpose flour
 unsweetened cocoa powder
 baking soda
 baking powder
 teaspoon salt
 butter, softened
 sugar
 eggs
 teaspoons vanilla
 milk


 Canned frosting ingredients vs homemade frosting: Yikes!!!
Homemade Chocolate Frosting:
Butter
Sugar
Evaporated milk
Chocolate chips

Here's how my first adventure went.....

It didn't start out too good.  I bought a huge sugar and flour from Costco for this month, and while getting out the bag of sugar it RIPPED on the cabinet and sugar went EV.ERY.WHERE.

Then the toddler stomped in it and tracked sugar all over the house.  That was fun. 

K, here's the recipe I used...and it is DELISH.  Got the cake recipe off Pinterest.  

Easy Chocolate Cake From Scratch with Homemade Chocolate Frosting 


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 2/3 cups milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees, grease two round cake pans with olive oil (I hate pam!) and flour pan.
Set your oven timer!!! Took mine about 28 mins.  Check your cake around 25 mins.

For the frosting:
Melt 1/4 cup butter in pot
Add 6 Tbsp sugar when butter is melted
Add 3/4 can evaporated milk
Bring to boil (my mother in law always says don't let it boil over! its a mess!)
Add 2 cups chocolate chips and remove from heat
stir, and let sit until cool




2 comments:

The Skinny on Staci said...

The above commenter obviously thinks you burnt your cake in the oven. HAHA The cake looks great and definitely sounds doable!!! This will be interesting to follow. :)

Becca said...

Favorite chocolate cake recipe? The one on the back of the hershey's cocoa box. (Replace the boiling water with coffee and it's fantastic!) I can bake from scratch (I made 6 dozen cupcakes for my mother in laws birthday and I have 18 dozen to bake for my brother's friend... oh boy) and I can make icing from scratch but I can't cook meat to save my life. LIke meat not in a crockpot, casserole. Pork chops on the stove are either raw or burnt, steak is a disaster, chicken not covered is some sort of marinade/sauce is also a disaster. One thing at a time right? At least we can survive on casseroles, crockpot meals, and lots of things with ground hamburger.