Quick-to-make Chocolate Cake

I first want to say that I was absolutely horrified with what happened on Koninginnedag (Queen's day - 30th April) in Holland last week. I really don't know what the guy was thinking to want to crash his car into the Queen's bus on such a joyous day (or any other day for that matter). Instead he killed 4 innocent bystanders and injured a lot more. I really wish every one of those families affected by the tragedy last week my sincerest condolences. Ok, no stitching updates, and I took no photos at all during my stay at the farm last week. We had a long weekend, because the 1st of May in Portugal is Labor Day, so of course we don't work. Well that's to say, I did work, quite a lot actually on my parents farm. You see they have a load of fields that are completely overgrown, and because we have about 4 or 5 natural springs in several locations on the land where the water flows freely, we have an overgrowth of plants. So last week Friday my dad wanted to clear one of these fields that gets plenty of water, so I went to help out. It was a great day, sunny and warm, but because we were mostly working in the shade, we didn't feel the heat of the day that much. We managed to clear more than half the field of all sorts of weeds, and mostly stinging nettles, which we had to be carefull of. My dad cleared and I collected everything on a pitchfork to put in piles that will later be used for a compost heap at another location on the farm. We also cleared a path for the excess water to run so as not to flood the field all the time. While my dad was doing that, I was chopping away at roots to remove them. Did you know that the stinging nettle roots also sting!! Well I didn't but I found out the hard way. I did have working gloves on, but I didn't want to get them wet, so I put my hand in the water to remove a chuck of the root I'd managed to work free and got stung for my effort. Well that won't happen again. I really actually enjoyed helping out, and next time I'm over if my dad needs help with something I'll go out and help again. So now over to the subject heading of this entry. On Sunday my aunt came over to celebrate Mother's day because my gran was also over at the farm. My mum took care of the main course which was fish, some salmon/trout type fish, and I'd promised to make the desert. Well I couldn't be too bothered to spend to long in making a cake, so I decided to try out this recipe a friend of mine gave me. And let me tell you it works, so for those people who are reading this and see that it only takes 5 minutes to cook in the Microwave, just trust me, you get a lovely cake. So before sitting down to lunch I made the cake. This is an excellent recipe to use if you suddenly get some unexpected guests show up. I should mention though that the cake is small, and maybe only good for 8 portions depending on the size of slice you cut. So if you get a really large group, you might have to make more than one cake. Anyway, so below the ingredients and how to make the cake.

INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs

200 grams sugar

150 grams cooking chocolate (at least 70% cacao)

100 grams flour

120 butter (or margarine)

PREPARATION:

1. get a pyrex/glass, microwave safe, dish which is a good 10cm high (you'll need it) and make sure to grease it up really well and then add some flower to cover all the "grease" (I use butter for this)

2. mix together the eggs, flour and sugar in a bowl

3. break the chocolate into small pieces as well as the butter and put them in a bowl and put in the microwave to melt for 1 minute and 30 seconds (no more)

4. Add the melted chocolate and butter to the rest of the ingredients and mix well together until you have a smooth mixture.

5. pour your mixture into the pre-greased dish and put in the microwave at the highest voltage/power for 5 minutes

This cake is supposed to be moist. Once the 5 minutes are up, remove the cake from the dish immediately onto a plate and let it cool down before serving. I usually serve it when it's still a little bit warm (about 30-40 minutes after I made it) with either some vanilla ice-cream or some whipped cream, whatever you prefer.

Like I said, I've made this cake on several occasions now and it really is only 5 minutes in the microwave, and everyone who's tried it has absolutely loved it. That's why I always have some cooking chocolate in my pantry as well as all the other ingredients, just in case. You never know when you're going to need to make a cake in a hurry. Let me know when you've tried it out if it's not easy to make and absolutely delicious.