Perfect chocolate cake

Think about the perfect birthday cake. The one will always be in fashion even in a thousand years, and above all, that cake youngs and grown-ups love the most : Chocolate cake.

The pic I posted was the cake I made yesterday for my "amore" on the occasion of his 38th b'day. The framed photo in the backgound is of course myself!

Ingredients : (serves 12)

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpouse flour
3/4 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa (dutch or swiss cocoa powder)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350°F.
Grease and flour a round baking pan.

In large bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes untill smooth.
Stir in boiling water by hand (batter will be thin).

Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round 9-inch pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (I advise not to use 8-inch pans or the batter will overflow.).
Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire racks.

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I Baci di Alice (Alice's kisses)

In a society that privileges adolescence over adulthood, "girls"in their thirties when feel alone adopt different techniques to cheer themselves up : Some go shopping, some chat with her girlfriends..some other bake cookies!

Ingredients : (makes about 50 bite-size cookies)
130 gr butter (a bit more than a stick)
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 small bag (10 gr) Vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons organic oats
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
In another bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt - then transfer the mix into the butter cream and keep stirring until a good consistency is reached and the vanilla-cocoa aroma will come out.
At the beginning the mix will appear too powdery but don't worry, it takes a bit of energetic stirring with a wooden spoon and the right consistency will soon come out.
Once you are done with the stirring, you can add the organic oats first and then the chocolate chips.
Pre-heat the oven at 170 degrees Celsius.
Place a baking sheet (ungreased) into a tray. Shape cookies with your hand forming small balls (size is up to you, but I prefer my cookies to be bite-size and small)
Place chocolate ball-shaped cookies into tray. As dough will flatten and spread with the heat, carefully place the cookies about 2 inches apart for each other.
Flatten the cookies slightly with fingertips and bake for about 8 minutes. Don't over-bake!
When ready, the cookies will still be very soft and fragile. Allow them to cool for about 10 minutes before touching.

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Crema di ricotta al caffe' (ricotta and coffee cream)

One of the easiest desserts to make, this delicious combination of ricotta and coffee takes just minutes in the food processor. It may be made a day ahead. (In fact, it tastes even better once the flavors have mellowed.)

Ingredients : (seves 6-8)
1/4 cup very strong espresso
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pound high-quality whole-milk ricotta
1/3 cup sugar
unsweetened chocolate powder and coffee beans for decorations

In a food processor or blender combine the ricotta, coffee or espresso and sugar.Process for 2 minutes untill the mix appears smooth.
When done, spoon the ricotta mousse into 6-8 small glass goblets or dessert bowls, cover with cling-wrap and refrigerate 8 to 24 hours.
Before serving the cream, sprinkle with some chocolate powder and decorate each bowl with 1 or 2 coffee beans.

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