The brownies I made on my first attempt were very chocolatey, but probably wouldn't suit the tastes of small children. The next offering, a chocolate orange cake, was more suitable for children but it was a plain, everyday kind of cake. Today's chocolate swiss roll is aimed at pleasing children and adults alike, as well as being something you wouldn't be ashamed to put out for guests.
I used the standard recipe of 3 eggs, 80 of caster sugar and 80g SR flour (substituting 1 tablespoon of flour with cocoa); the fact that a swiss roll is made from a fatless sponge brings down the cost considerably. I then filled the swiss roll with 200g of orange curd, and used 50g of the cheapest plain chocolate I could find to decorate the finished cake. I could have filled the roll with one of the cheaper jams available, but thought orange curd would be a better partner - Sainsbury's had a 411g jar in their range for 62p. The chocolate was ALDI's 'everyday essentials' brand, costing 30p for 100g, and had 50% cocoa solids; it also had quite an acceptable flavour when eaten on it's own, which surprised me - it didn't taste cheap or feel nasty in the mouth.
Ingredients and cost3 medium eggs 25.0p
80g caster sugar 8.0p
70g flour 3.0p
1 tablespoon cocoa 10.0p
200g orange curd 31.0p
50g plain chocolate 15.0p
extra caster sugar +
a tsp of sunflower oil 3.0p
Total = 95.0p for 6 portions; just under 16p a portion.
This certainly looks the nicest of the three cakes I've made, but the cake itself didn't have a very strong chocolate flavour, although being able to use real chocolate for the decoration made up for that to some extent. The main disadvantage of a fatless sponge has to be mentioned - it really needs eating the same day it is made, which makes it OK for a special tea-time treat, but not if you want a cake to come back to over a few days.
We Should Cocoa (rules here) is a monthly challenge to produce something made using chocolate and the extra ingredient or theme chosen by that month's host. The challenge is the idea of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog. Although Choclette often shares hosting duties with various guest hosts, this month's theme of frugal baking is her idea, and she will be posting a round up of entries at the end of the month.I've just realised that the rules of We Should Cocoa
stipulate only one entry. This is the best of the three cake I've made, so will go in as my entry, but if you've followed the link from the challenge round up to here, I hope you'll look at the other cakes I made!
5 comments:
I'm so impressed that you have made not one but 3 cakes under these rules! That is just amazing.
Your cake looks really inviting.
Anyone would be pleased to be offered a slice, including me! You would never guess it had cost so little to make. Baking can be an expensive exercise but this challenge has proved to me that it's within reach of the smallest budget.
Your cake looks really inviting.
Anyone would be pleased to be offered a slice, including me! You would never guess it had cost so little to make. Baking can be an expensive exercise but this challenge has proved to me that it's within reach of the smallest budget.
Gosh Suelle, three cakes for under £1. You've definitely shown it is possible to bake on a budget. This one looks very stylish and filling it with curd makes for a nice change. Drizzling chocolate on the top will, as you say, bump up the chocolateyness of the cake.
Thanks for entering into this challenge with such a will. Sorry about the only 1 entry, it's something Chele and I decided right at the beginning. I will, however, mention your other two bakes when I do the right up.
I too am impressed with your quest to make a chocolate cake for £1! This is my favourite of the 3 mainly because it has a curd filling and I like the chocolate drizzle on top.
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