Chocolate cake is good

Everyone from work was up til late last night baking a cake. We had a cake 'bake off' competition this morning! I signed up to be one of the contestants a few weeks ago. Our bosses even took part (and quite a number of boys).

It was a long 3 weeks of googling recipes, arguments of WHAT constitutes a cake, etc. The organiser was slightly annoyed to the point she sent an email to all contestants the Wikipedia definition of a cake. Some argued a cookie is a cake. A tart is a cake. A brownie is a cake.. endless! There were 3 categories – best tasting, best looking and best effort. Hell, I wanted to win all 3. It was made clear that we have to make the cakes from scratch, and there should be no HELP (NONE AT ALL) from our partners/wives/husbands/boyfriends/girlfriends/mum/dad/sisters/brothers/friends, etc.

I decided to make a flourless chocolate cake. It is the one of the few cakes I can bake. Way to go Jules!

Had to melt the butter and chocolate.

I like to prepare all my ingredients accordingly.

Whisked the egg whites.

And the best part of baking – the washing up.

My most loyal supporter. He sat by my feet the entire time. Praying for some chocolate to fall to the ground.

Then I popped it in the oven. And voila – an ugly looking cake was born!

Whateverrrr, you turn it the other way round, and you have a nice flat looking cake.

And now for the decorations. As ambitious as I try to be, I had to be practical. I have to hand-carry this freaking cake all the way to work, in a train which is overcrowded by Monday morning disgruntled passengers. While a friend suggested I make flower petals out of marshmallows, I just ended up lining them up around the cake.

And to make it complete, a nice little smiley figurine!

10.40pm, it will do. I have to go to bed soon.

Made it to work in one piece. Thank gawd. But when I saw the other cakes (about 20 other cakes), my cake was no contender.

Then we heard news about shootings in the city. 8.30am! OMG, 3 shot, 1 dead. Flinders Lane! That's the back entrance of our building.

YEA Whatever! Back to the cakes. French girl said "There is a shooting in Melbourne, and nobody cares?"

Come ON! The show must go on!!!! Cake cake cake cake cake! Give me the cake!

Results were announced at 10.40am. I didn't win. Disappointed? Not really…I'm proud of my cake.

I should've taken pictures before. But everyone was too quick to dig in.

Here's a pic of the many cakes. See my Mr Smiley! Guarding my cake topped with pink & white marshmallows. Hey, there's barely any left. Yes, a lot of my team members had a piece of MY cake – out of obligation. Haha.. "Its nice Jules, very moist" Yes OK, sure..

These 2 cakes were actually winners. The gorilla cake (pic of one of our colleagues) with banana lollies on the tray – won Best Effort. It was done by my male boss!
The other cake won Best Looking. It was actually a pink carousel with paper horses around it, it looked sooo pretty. But the top part was removed by the time I took a pic.
It was a good event. I'll end this post with the cake recipe – worth a try.

Chocolate Cake
4eggs separated (large)
125g butter
125g dark cooking chocolate (suggests - Nestle Plaistowe)

125g almond meal
125g castor sugar

• Melt choc &butter in mixing bowl over boiling water
  
• Lift off heat & cool slightly
  
• Whisk egg yolk lightly & add to butter & choc stirring vigorously
  
• Add almond meal & sugar, stir well
  
• Fold in whisked egg white (soft peak)
  
• Bake in moderate oven at 180° for 40-55 mins
  
• Check with skewer to ensure cooked