faux-lly

even though i'm still writing out my list, i may have actually completed one of the 101 things i hope to have done in 1001 days. whoo!

one of my favourite cakes is a chocolate cake sold in a gas station in manila; those of you there surely know which one i mean, polly's chocolate cake, made by polly garilao. it is dark, supermoist, chocolatey, with a pudding-like just-on-the-edge-of-too-sweet chocolate frosting; it is not a fancy cake, it's quite homey and old-fashioned, and frighteningly easy to eat. i don't really seek it out when i'm in manila because although it is a substantial 8"x8" (or so) cake, it doesn't exactly feed eight, like it should--it's more like three to four people if you're lucky, or two people hovering over the plain brown box....cake crack, i tell you. also, finding somewhere that sells it can be a chore--the only regular source (besides ms. garilao herself, of course) seems to be the shell gas station in magallanes and it's not particularly easy to transport, especially via transpacific flights.

i have about three dress sizes' worth of reasons not to look for a similar recipe, but look i did, and it was surprisingly easy to find a pretty darned close equivalent to it. i wanted a recipe with ingredients that were easy enough to come by in the philippines, low on dairy products, and somewhat older (christine mentioned she grew up eating them). i looked for traditional, quick recipes that used vegetable oil or shortening, and cocoa instead of chocolate. i tried out a few, but surprisingly the recipe that got the right colour, texture, moistness and flavour was one that i found in regan daley's "in the sweet kitchen"--a bit of a fancy-schmantzy book, but the recipe itself was passed down from her mother, and there are many variations of it around the interwebs. i had my doubts at first because she described it as chewy, and someone else called it as dense; i don't know if those are two adjectives i would use for the polly cake. still, she said it was the one cake she really craved, the one she could polish off in one sitting. hm. i knew that feeling, so the recipe looked good enough to try.

oh weeee, the recipe looked good, but the results even better--supermoist, dark, springy, yeah yeah. the secrets of the cake universe unlocked, and whilst this may not be the exact polly garilao gas station chocolate cake, it's so darned good (and yes, so darned close), it doesna matter. and yayeah, so darned easy. here's the recipe, and step by step instructions:


1. sift 1 1/2 cups of AP flour into an ungreased, unfloured 8"x 8" pan.

2. in a separate bowl, mix 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup white granulated sugar, one teaspoonful of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. add to pan, and mix carefully with flour.




3. make 3 indentations in the flour mixture--2 small and one large.




4. add one teaspoonful of vanilla extract to one of the small holes, one tablespoonful of white vinegar to the the other, and 6 tablespoonfuls of vegetable oil to the large one. pour one cup of cool water over everything and mix well, without beating it (a few lumps are okay).


5. bake in a preheated 350˚F oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out relatively clean. cool before frosting.

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some notes: make sure to use natural cocoa, absolutely not dutch-processed if you want that deep, dark colour; hershey's or ghirardelli brand is what ms. daley recommends, but i've been using valrhona because...well, why not? (edit:as manggy points out in the comments valrhona cocoa is dutch processed, which i've neglected to mention. technically, a dutch-processed cocoa is milder flavourwise, but valrhona uses a superior bean than most brands. also, technically you should adjust the leavener because of the alkali content, but as i haven't tried this cake with natural process cocoa, i can't say if it's truly a detriment.) i also prefer to bake this cake at 335˚F for 35-40 minutes. this all-in-one recipe is for a cake that will be served in the pan; if you'd like a more elegant presentation, line the pan with parchment before adding all the ingredients. or, dare to mix the batter in a bowl first (whoo).

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also, if you want to go with a more polly-like frosting, don't do the cocoa buttercream in the link; instead, make a ganache with semi-sweet chocolate chips and heavy cream, then pour it over the cake. if you have access to it, buy semi-sweet chocolate (chips or by the block) made in the philippines by nova; it's only about 300p a kilo (about us$7), and spot on for the consistency of miss p's frosting.

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so there, lil' keikis, i hope i have saved some of you some money, effort and grief. and no matter what your verdict may be, maybe this will become a staple of your sweet kitchen.