Decadent Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting.....and celebrating Rakhi!!

No celebration in our house is complete without a cake whatever might be the occasion. 

Yesterday we celebrated the festival of Raksha Bandhan (or Rakhi as it is popularly known) in our house and it goes without saying that there had to be cake and that too without question a chocolate one!!

The festival of Rakhi is a traditional Hindu festival celebrated with great enthusiasm across India. It symbolizes the unconditional love and bond between brothers and sisters. In this festival, the sister ties a colorful thread on the wrist of her brother, praying for his long life and he in turn vows to protect her from all troubles. 'Raksha' means protection and 'Bandhan' means ties, thus the name Raksha bandhan. Its a very sentimental occasion, full of love and emotion and an opportunity for the families to get together and celebrate, wear traditional clothes and prepare special dishes. Of course, for some who are not able to meet, sisters make sure that the Rakhis are mailed to their brothers so that they can reach on time and their brothers can wear the thread of love send by their sisters on the auspicious day. 

photo source: internet

For me too, Rakhi was a much awaited occasion and was always celebrated with great enthusiasm. We got new clothes and mom always prepared a special fare for us to feast on. 

I got to tie Rakhi to my twin elder brothers. I know some of you might be thinking, how lucky I must be to have twin elder brothers to protect and look after me but when younger I thought otherwise. Though I love them both intensely, at that time, I thought having twins for brothers wasn't exactly all that great. 
I was so envious of them as being twins they always had each other for company and I was perpetually ignored and pushed away most of the time especially being younger by 31/2 years. Also being a girl it was automatically decided by my brothers that I was useless and didn't know anything.  Twins have a certain affinity and closeness and when together they need no other companion around. Because of these very reasons, I used to pester my mom all the time that why I too couldn't have a sister to play with. 
Even when we got into a fight (which was often), it always used to be them against me. Though I wasn't one to give in easily and gave it my all in the battlefield - pulling hair, biting and kicking anything to give me a upper hand.

I used to follow them relentlessly everywhere they went and wanted to be included in whatever they did or played. Poor guys!! Now that I actually come to think of it, it must be pretty embarrassing for them to have a little sister tagging along with them all the times and inspite of their best efforts to throw me off their trail, I used to be like their shadow. (Maybe things would have been different, if in those times time we too had video games and internet to distract me!!) To make matters worse, I was my dad's pet and whatever mischief or untoward incident happened that was supposed to be kept hushed, was promptly rattled off to him on his coming home from office. Gosh!! I must have been a total pest and what a tough time I must have given my poor brothers!! No hard feelings Bros!! I totally understand it now and genuinely feel really sorry for you guys.

I must say, inspite of all my complaints and feeling sorry for myself, I have had some really wonderful times too to look back on. I remember as a child, travelling on the train in the first class compartment was always so much fun, never a dull or boring moment, playing cards and jumping from one berth to another. At home, we used to keep busy playing board games together for hours (of course it usually didn't end nicely whenever I lost or got out), with them I learnt to climb the toughest of trees, I still remember as a 9 year old, how we would walk up the mountains in 'Khunmoh' in Srinagar from one army post to another, a little later when dad was posted in Bareilly, going for cycling together to the swimming pool and also for horse riding early in the mornings, playing 'pittuh' on the road and hide and seek and dark room whenever there was a power cut!! My love for playing games and outdoor sports began early on in life and you know by now whom do I have to thank it for. What lovely treasure troves of childhood memories to cherish!! 

We also had great fun planning for festivals, during Dussheras collecting things to build our own effigy of 'Ravana' and filling it with crackers, then waiting with excitement to light it up at night, planning for 'Holi' days in advance and then getting up really early in the morning to fill water balloons and buckets with colored water so that we could all hide near the gate and target unsuspecting passer-bys, cracking  loads of crackers at Diwali and competing who had the courage to burst the most dangerous one. God!! such sweet memories and they will always remain precious to me.

Having elder brothers has taught me for one thing to be strong and confident and never to take any nonsense from anyone and most important to feel that nothing really is impossible even if you were a girl!! Luckily for me my parents treated me no less than my brothers and I was not stopped to do anything or go anywhere. 

Now each one of us has got busy with our lives and responsibilities with everyone staying in different parts of the country. Over the past few years, there have only been a handful of occasions, when I have tied Rakhi to my brothers personally. But inspite of the time and distance, I want both of you to know that you are missed terribly and I will always have all my love and prayers for your long and healthy life!!

What better occasion than Raksha bandhan to reconfirm our love and special bond. I feel blessed to have you as my brothers and the blessing has increased manifold as now I have two lovely sister-in-laws whom I get along with like a house on fire. I think its God's way of imparting justice to me and finally giving me sisters which I always longed for!!

My son and daughter celebrating Rakhi 

To commemorate the auspicious occasion of Rakhi I made a chocolate cake for my kids.  Its a rich, beautifully moist and utterly decadent, infact the best chocolate cake I have tasted!! Truly a special treat for a special occassion.

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon espresso coffee powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 tbsp vinegar

2 large eggs

1 cup boiling water

1 tbsp vanilla essence

For the Chocolate buttercream frosting (enough to cover and fill a 9" cake)

11/2 sticks (170 gms) unsalted Butter softened

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

21/2 cup confectioners sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coffee powder 

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

In a large mixing bowl sieve together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder or put the ingredients in a bowl of a stand mixer and whisk using your paddle attachment, on low speed until well combined.

Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla essence to the flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. 

Add in the boiling water and whisk till thoroughly mixed.

Don't worry if at this point your cake batter is looking too runny. Avoid the temptation to add in more flour. Trust me!!

Pour the batter in a greased 9" spring form pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To make the icing

Add cocoa and the softened butter to a large bowl.

With a hand mixer mix thoroughly for 1-2 minutes till it reaches a smooth consistency.

Add in the sugar, vanilla and milk to cocoa mixture and mix thoroughly with the hand mixer on low speed. Turn the speed on high and mix for about a minute till the consistency is smooth and creamy. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter.

If the batter appears thin add in some more confectioners, spoon by spoon until it reaches the right consistency.