Things couldn't be better with summer in full swing, with freshly cut grass, trees sprouting, and flowers blooming everywhere under the sun. Although chocolate is often reserved for colder weather, there’s no reason to deny yourself something as chocolatey and indulgent as this recipe. Here is a simple chocolate cake made with five ingredients. It's light and tender, and perfect for steamy summer days.

The recipe comes from Pâtisserie and Baking Foundations Classic Recipes, a textbook-ish collection published by Le Cordon Bleu. Often used as a base for more complicated desserts like Feuille d’Automne (Fall leaves), and Croustillant au Chocolat (Crispy chocolate mousse), this chocolate cake is just as enjoyable by itself. I would even venture to say that it's better homemade and decorated in your own way!

Ingredients (serves 1 to 4 people, your call):

3 Eggs, yolk and white separated
Caster Sugar, 75 grams
Plain flour, 35 grams
Cornstarch, 25 grams
Cocoa powder, 15 grams

How:

1. Beat the egg whites into a firm meringue (when you lift the whisk from the mixture, there'll be a small curled tip at the end of the whisk); gradually add the sugar as you whip the egg whites.

2. Whisk the yolks until smooth; add it to the fluffy egg white foam.

3. Mix the flour, cornstarch, and cocoa powder together; gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture (mix with a spatula till you don’t see lumps of flour; don’t over-mix since we want to retain the air in the mixture, which makes the cake fluffy).

4. Pour the mixture into a mold of your choice.

5. Bake at 355F for 18 minutes (if not completely set after 18 minutes, bake for a little longer but definitely keep an eye on the cake).

This is it! I throw in some chopped chocolate just to intensify the flavor. You could also serve the cake with ice-cream, strawberries, whipped cream, icing sugar, or all the above (no shame!).

Nigella Lawson and Nik Sharma recently talked about “empowering home cooks”, which really resonated with me. This chocolate cake is a perfect opportunity to transform a classic recipe for fancy pastry into an approachable dessert for home cooks to improvise and enjoy.

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Since it's raining all day today, I've decided to turn up the lights indoors and stay busy in the kitchen. Because I have a light palate, I like to use only 1/4 of the amount of ingredients cookbooks enlist for flavor and spice. For this vanilla cake, that would have meant butter, oil, and sugar. The cakes and pastries I make usually turn out a bit dry and bland, which I'm fine with. But this time, I'm following the formula for an authentic floury experience!

Supplies

1 round cake pan/ceramic casserole dish

Measuring cup, spoons

2 bowls (small and large)

1 whisk (or 1 electric mixer, essential for making whipped cream from scratch)

1 spatula

1 baking pan/wire rack (to cool the cake)

(1 sifter)

Ingredients

Cooking oil

1 and 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Okay, let's get started.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Grease and lightly flour the cake pan/baking receptacle of choice.

3. Mix evenly flour and baking powder, then pour them into the small bowl. You can use a sifter if you have one.

4. Add softened butter, sugar and vanilla to the large bowl.

5. Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Then, crack the eggs into the bowl, one at a time, and mix on medium speed until the contents are light and airy. Add the milk now.

6. Slowly add the flour mixture from the small bowl into the large bowl, beating until everything blends evenly.

7. Pour the cake batter from the large bowl into the dish/pan, and scrape the bowl with a spatula.

8. Bake for 20-30 minutes. The cake is ready when it turns golden-brown and spongy.

Extra tips:

**Creaming with a hand whisk is not ideal, because the batter sticks to the spokes. It's actually fun to cream with gloved hands.

**Before taking the cake from the oven, stick a toothpick (or cake-tester) into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean (dry/crumby), you can be sure that the cake is done.

So, moving on to whipped cream...

Supplies

1 metal bowl

measuring cup, spoons

1 electric mixer (essential)

Ingredients

1/2 pint whipping cream

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

1. Add cream, sugar, and vanilla to the chilled metal bowl.

2. Set the electric mixer to a medium speed, and stir the batter for around 5 minutes. When the cream thickens and acquires texture, it is done. Be careful with over-mixing.

3. Frost the cake. I am following a separate recipe for whipped cream, and accidentally end up with a whole bowl of whipped cream left over (as you can see below)!

4. Choose any topping you'd like.

Extra tips:

**Put the metal bowl and beater in the freezer for 30-60 minutes for whipped cream to form faster.

**I don't have an electric mixer, so for an hour I attempt to whisk the cream by hand. It says online that this is possible, but it really is not for such a large amount of cream. I try everything, freezing the bowl of cream and whisk multiple times, and using two whisks at once. Finally, I head out to Target and buy a long overdue hand-held electric mixer. So...lesson learned, stick to professional supplies!

This recipe is courtesy of a spiral cookbook I found in my house, called Strawberry Shortcake Berry Yummy Cookbook.

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