Boozy chocolate cake - work in progress and still delicious

I almost didn't post this case recipe.  It is more work-in-progress than brilliant recipe.  But we loved it so here it is in all its wobbly glory.  I made it on one of those days when recipes worked but not quite in the way I expected.  I forgot the oil.  I think I got the tofu quantity wrong.  The gas jet went off while cooking pasta.  I used more sugar than I meant to.  Yet it all came together eventually.

This is the sort of recipe that would horrify Martha Stewart who recently commented on bloggers not being experts and not testing recipes.  She seemed to imply that this meant recipes were not really very good.  Actually it has taken me ages to stop confusing her with that nice old lady Martha Gardener whose face is on the wool wash mix so Martha Stewart doesn't really mean much to me.  Even Google seems to think they are the same person when I try and find out anything about Martha Gardener.  But I digress.

Martha Stewart's comments made me reflect on this blog being a recipe journal rather than a recipe book.  It helps me learn about cooking.  Blogs are for punks, Martha.  And by that I don't mean the way my grandfather used it to describe an annoying young person.  I mean it is a place for people to explore and learn and become expert by doing.  It is far better and cheaper than university education.  In this spirit, I will not apologise for a recipe that is as far more scrappy notes than rigorously tested method.  I love reading about how others really cook and I hope if you are reading this, you will appreciate that this is how I cook too.

My initial intention was to bake this healthy banana bread .  Sylvia objected to the bits.  I didn't have enough honey.  I had leftover icing from my dad's birthday cake.  It also seemed a good opportunity to use the mini fudge chunks I bought at Sainsburys in December (use by date June 2013).  Somehow even though I was using the bananas from the freezer, the recipe was not what I intended.  I found the chocolate banana cake bookmarked and veered more in that direction.

I was halfway through adding dry ingredients into the mixing bowl when it struck me that perhaps here was the perfect opportunity to use up a bottle of brandy sauce in my fridge.  I bought it as a present to send by airmail to Scotland for Christmas.  Then when I got home and put on my glasses I found the use by date was the end of October 2013.  I had another brilliant idea to give it to my dad as a birthday present.  I forgot.  It had to be used.  So I chucked it into the cake with some extra cocoa to compensate for the extra sweetness.

It was no wonder I forgot about the oil.  I only remembered when I took the cake out of the oven.  It looked ok, albeit slightly sunken.  Our neighbour visited and tasted some with us.  We all loved it.  The real reason I posted the recipe was that it was lovely and fudgy, even a little chewy around the edges.  I don't know I would ever make it again like this but who knows when the opportunity will present itself again. 

I am sending this cake to Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food for Families where she is hosting the Credit Crunch Munch event that is founded by Helen and Camilla’s blogs. I managed to use up leftovers, use lingering ingredients and use bananas that had been kept in the freezer.  And it made enough to freezer half of the cake.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Sweet potato, chickpea and hemp seed burgers  
Two years ago: Vegan pad see ew - with tofu omelette
Three years ago: Pea pate - sandwiches
Four years ago: Pumpkin bread pudding for interesting times
Five years ago: My Personal Vegetarian 100 List

Chocolate brandy banana cake
Adapted from The Joy of Baking

2 cups raw sugar (or less)
1 cup plain wholemeal flour
3/4 cup white self raising flour

3/4  cup cocoa (I used 1 cup)

1/2 cup fudge drops (optional)
1 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 mashed bananas
1 cup warm water (I used brandy sauce)
1/2 cup milk (I used water)
1/2 cup neutral oil (I forgot)

Chocolate frosting (optional)

Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Mix wet ingredients in a large jug or small mixing bowl.  Tip wet into dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Pour into a greased and lined lamington tin (9 x 13 inch). Bake at 180 C for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly.  Great warm.  Great frosted.  Half of this cake with frosting has gone into our freezer and E tells me it defrosts very well.

On the stereo:

The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds