Q&A for How to Make a Simple Chocolate Cake

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  • Question
    How can I make a plain chocolate cake taste good?
    Maria Short is a Baker and the Owner of Short N Sweet Bakery & Cafe in Hilo, Hawaii. With over 24 years of experience, she specializes in specialty desserts and wedding cakes. She graduated from L’Academie de Cuisine’s Pastry Arts Program with honors and studied at Baltimore International Culinary College. In 2019, Maria competed in the 6th season of the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship. In 2010, she had a cake named one of “America’s Most Beautiful Cakes” by Brides magazine.
    Baker
    Expert Answer
    You can make your simple chocolate cake recipe quite tasty by using quality ingredients. Use the top branded chocolate or cocoa powder since the better the ingredients, the more flavored your cake is going to be!
  • Question
    What will happen if I add too much oil?
    Lanie Beare
    Community Answer
    Your cake will become too greasy and taste disgusting. To avoid this, put the oil in first, and if you pour too much, just dump some of it back into the bottle using a funnel.
  • Question
    When you say oil, which oil are you talking about?
    Community Answer
    Vegetable oil and canola oil are both common options for baking because of their neutral flavor. Be careful with more flavorful oils like coconut oil, olive oil, or sunflower oil, because they can overpower the other flavors in your recipe.
  • Question
    If I use self-rising flour, do I need to use baking powder?
    Community Answer
    No, you don't need to add baking powder. Self-rising flours already have it.
  • Question
    What can I put in instead of eggs?
    Community Answer
    You can use 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce to replace one egg.
  • Question
    Does the size of the eggs matter?
    Community Answer
    Usually any medium to large size egg is fine. If the eggs are extremely small, use the double the amount the recipe calls for.
  • Question
    What type of sugar should I use?
    Community Answer
    You should use plain white sugar for the first recipe, caster sugar for the second.
  • Question
    How much does it cost for 1 kg of cocoa?
    Community Answer
    1 kilogram of cocoa powder costs about $2 to $3, you can find it almost anywhere, Amazon, Walmart, etc.
  • Question
    May I use sunflower oil?
    Community Answer
    Yes. I use sunflower oil or refined coconut oil in all my baking. As long as it isn't virgin or extra virgin it won't change the flavor.
  • Question
    What is cocoa powder?
    Caeiia
    Top Answerer
    It is the solid powder of the cocoa bean after the cocoa butter has been taken out.
  • Question
    What is self-rising flour?
    Community Answer
    Self-rising flour is flour with baking powder added to it. It's common in some countries but not in others. If you don't have access to self-rising flour, you can make your own .
  • Question
    Can I stir instead of using an electric beater when making a simple chocolate cake?
    Ashley Garcia Alvarez
    Community Answer
    Yes, it will just be a little more difficult, depending on the thickness of the batter.
  • Question
    I accidentally added extra virgin oil, what can I do?
    Community Answer
    You could start over, or you could go with it and see how the finished product tastes.
  • Question
    Can I use another kind of flour? I don't have self-rising.
    Community Answer
    You can use normal flour, just add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt per cup of flour used.
  • Question
    What is superfine sugar?
    Community Answer
    The granules of granulated sugar are pulverized until super small. This makes for a smoother sugar that melts into baked goods with greater ease. It is also known as caster sugar in some countries.
  • Question
    What can I use instead of an oven?
    Community Answer
    You can use a stove. Boil water in a steamer and keep the batter in a pan and place the pan on top of the steamer. Wait for 10 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  • Question
    How do I make chocolate chip cookies?
    Community Answer
  • Question
    Is it okay if I don't use baking powder?
    Sunset_Cloud
    Community Answer
    If you don't use baking powder, you'll need to use self-raising flour. If you don't use any kind of raising agent, then your cake will be completely flat, like a biscuit (cookie).
  • Question
    What is the difference between the two cakes?
    Community Answer
    One is flavorful with distinct flavors and another is just chocolate alone. For the first recipe, it has self rising flour (self raising flour), which is basically cheap yeast. And the other is just plain flour.
  • Question
    Can I use butterscotch flavor instead of vanilla?
    Community Answer
    Yes but vanilla will tend to be a softer flavor that works better. Butterscotch will have a more distinctive caramel taste than the chocolate flavor and it will definitely be stronger than the chocolate. But experimenting is good.
  • Question
    What if I don't have a mixer?
    Dahlia Grace
    Community Answer
    You can still stir using a whisk but you will need to stir for longer until all the ingredients are fully mixed.
  • Question
    Can I replace the self-rising flour with baking flour and baking soda?
    Fozya
    Community Answer
    Self rising flour is just flour with some baking powder and salt already added to flour. So yes, you can definitely make it yourself! Just add about 1 and a half teaspoons of baking powder and about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt for every cup of flour you use. Be sure to mix this up well.
  • Question
    What color can we put for our mom's birthday?
    Idabelle
    Community Answer
    While it is hard to dye a chocolate cake because of the brown color, you can use frosting and sprinkles to make the cake colorful. A few good colors for a birthday cake are light blue, yellow, white, pink, or purple. Choose what you think she'll like the most.
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