Incomplete cake recipe - what is the missing amount likely to be?

[MenoHiccup]

This is a chocolate cake I learned to make as a child. For years I made it without a recipe. I haven't made it for several years, and now I cannot remember the full recipe!

Can you help me? Nothing was weighed, it was all measured using a glass mug we had. What are the forgotten quantities likely to be?

1 block of butter (English, so likely to have been 8oz)
1 mug of cocoa powder
1? mug of sugar

Melt these all gently together in a saucepan over a low heat.

Meanwhile, separate 6 eggs.

When the mixture is melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool a little while you prepare the cake tin.

Beat the 6 yolks into the mixture. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Gently mix in ???? glasses of self-raising flour.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they do not move if you turn the bowl over. Fold the cocoa mixture into the egg whites.

Transfer to cake tin and bake at Gas 4 until it passes the skewer test.

I cannot remember the quantities of sugar and flour.

Thoughts?

It sort of looks like a flourless chocolate cake recipe so I would say no flour?? But presumably you would have remembered that.

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chocolate-recipes/flourless-chocolate-cake/

It looks a bit like my boil-and-bake parkin recipe, although that doesn't have so many eggs. This recipe looks similar to yours: www.womensweeklyfood.com.au/recipes/boiled-chocolate-cake-11260
It sounds delicious! I'm going to have to try this myself tomorrow...

In a basic cake recipe, think Victoria Sponge, there is the same quantity of margarine, sugar and flour.

But as you use a whole cup of cocoa powder in your recipe, I'd maybe only use two cups of flour, not three as in the Australian WW recipe.

My standard cake is equal weights of butter, self raising flour, sugar and eggs.

But in your place I’d start with those ratios on a 1 egg quantity, make it and see how it is different to what you hoped. Then try in turn 25% more and less flour and sugar. That’s 5 eggs worth of mix, and most of them will be edible, at least if you pour custard over them.

Neither of those involve separating eggs though. It's the whisking the whites that makes it sound like a flourless cake as those use the whisked whites as the raising agent.

Definitely flour in the recipe.

For a basic sponge cake, 6 eggs would call for 12oz of butter, so I don't think the proportions are the same. Also the texture wasn't the same as a conventional sponge - it was much softer and richer, and came out darker than a chocolate Victoria sponge.

I shall check out the Australian recipe.

Though TBF I could be misremembering the amount of butter! I'm 100% certain of the number of eggs.

@sleepyhead

Neither of those involve separating eggs though. It's the whisking the whites that makes it sound like a flourless cake as those use the whisked whites as the raising agent.

Perhaps it wasn't SR flour? If we used plain flour, the beaten egg whites would be necessary for the cake to rise.

My chocolate cake( real Red Devil's chocolate food cake)recipe uses 1/3 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 cups of flour and anywhere between 1/2 - 1 cup of sugar, depending on taste. That recipe also uses 1/2 cup butter and 2 eggs, plus a cup of milk.
It is quite dense, I'd say a bit heavier than a normal sponge cake. It comes out very dark brown, and I reckon if you are using a whole cup of cocoa, you'll need 2-3 cups of flour. With 6 eggs, that is going to be a big cake!

I have a chocolate fondant recipe that uses flour and whisked egg whites. Here: www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/recipes/chocolate-fondants/

Hash?

No

The closest I've found is a chiffon cake. No butter but then it uses actual chocolate plus oil for lightness.

A full mug of cocoa is going to be very bitter.

A full mug of cocoa is going to be very bitter

1 cocoa to 1.5 sugar is the perfect balance in chocolate drink, to my mind. 1:1 if I don't fancy it sweet. So the full mug of chocolate should be good if balanced by at least 1 mug of sugar.

It certainly didn't have the lightness of a chiffon cake. This chocolate cake was a moist, heavy sponge.

I’ve never seen a recipe for a cake that uses a full mug of cocoa powder.

1 cocoa to 1.5 sugar might be perfect for a drink- what unit you have in mind?

Chocolate is not equal to cocoa powder.

By volume. 1 generous tablespoon of cocoa for a mug, 4 for a 1L thermos, 1 cup for crockpot-full. We like it strong

But not necessarily, I suppose, for a cake.

I shall have to do MinesaPint's suggestion and try lots of 1 egg versions.

The middle YouTube recipe sounds exactly the same.

Not the same cake. That's a fatless whisked sponge. A very nice cake, but definitely light and refined - not gooey chocolatey indulgence.

Bum!

What about a type of chiffon cake recipe?

What about this recipe?

That recipe is the cause of my current problem. It replaced the chocolate cake I used to make. It is utter, lush decadence. But my dc has specifically requested the 'old' chocolate cake!

@DelphiniumBlue does your Red Devil recipe use food colouring?