Cool, it worked. (Baking goodness inside)

[Kittish]

So I have this recipe for soft chocolate cookies that is just awesome. My boyfriend's birthday was last month, and his favorite cake is chocolate with buttercream frosting. I remembered from somewhere (side panel of a cake mix box I think) that you could easily convert a cake mix to make cookies. So..... should work the other way around, too, right? Seems it does, and I got the proportions right.

Soft Chocolate Cookie Cake

3 cups flour (I'm in the U.S., all measurements will be in the weird system we still cling to)
3 large eggs
1 cup of butter (2 sticks, or 1/2 pound)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup + 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups milk
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

In one bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix thoroughly.

In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and olive oil. Add flour mix alternating with milk, mixing well after each addition.

Bake at 350 degrees F. For cupcakes 20-30 minutes. For 9"x 13" pan, 45-60 minutes. Toothpick test for doneness. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, cool completely on wire racks. Frost as desired.

ETA: Pics of the reason for the post. Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting.

[sms001]

(I'm in the U.S., all measurements will be in the weird bizarre system we still cling to)

FTFY.

These sound great Kittish, and happen to be just the kind of taste my wife likes, so she gets a surprise this weekend. Thanks.

384 g (All-Purpose) Flour
3 Large Eggs
227 g Butter
201 g Granulated Sugar
110 g (Packed) Brown Sugar
108 g Cocoa Powder
474 ml Milk
59 ml Olive Oil
6.9 g Baking Soda
5.7 g Salt
9.9 ml Vanilla

176.67 Celsius / Gas Mark 4

(I'm assuming you metric-ers know which way to fudge things rounding wise.)

[Kittish]

Sweet, thanks for the conversion sms.

Nearly the first thing I heard from my boyfriend when he got home from work was 'Oooooh, cupcakes' followed by the rustling of a paper wrapper coming off. For the record, the cupcakes taste even better than they look.

[MoonCat]

I'm drooling on my keyboard....

[42_42_42]

Are you sure you used baking soda and not baking powder?

The reason I ask is that baking soda requires and acid in order for leavening to occur and the only acidic ingredient is the cocoa powder and it's only mildly acidic.

[Kittish]

Are you sure you used baking soda and not baking powder?

The reason I ask is that baking soda requires and acid in order for leavening to occur and the only acidic ingredient is the cocoa powder and it's only mildly acidic.

Quite sure it is baking soda, not powder.

So, I gotta wonder, how does the leavening happen in cookies? Cause just about every cookie recipe I see uses baking soda, and they fluff up just fine.

[lordlundar]

The reason I ask is that baking soda requires and acid in order for leavening to occur and the only acidic ingredient is the cocoa powder and it's only mildly acidic.

You have that backwards. Baking powder is the pure base ingredient while baking soda is the acid/base mix. It's why baking soda is called as it is because when you add water it fizzes like a soda.

[CoffeeMonkey]

Quite sure it is baking soda, not powder.

So, I gotta wonder, how does the leavening happen in cookies? Cause just about every cookie recipe I see uses baking soda, and they fluff up just fine.

I know this! Because I asked my teacher roughly the same question. The soda in cookies is there mainly to neutralize the small amount of acid in the cocoa and the butter. It will provide some lift, though the majority of the leavening is provided by the steam from the creaming process. It is possible to have cookies or cakes with no chemical leavening at all. which is also why You can chill cookie dough for a long time without them going flat.

You have that backwards. Baking powder is the pure base ingredient while baking soda is the acid/base mix. It's why baking soda is called as it is because when you add water it fizzes like a soda.

Nope. It's the soda that's the base. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. It is a base that reacts with acid in the presence of water. Normally you have to bake items with baking soda in them right away because if you let them sit, the reaction will finish and you'll have flat stuff.

Baking POWDER is baking soda plus an acid (generally cream of tartar, aka tartaric acid, aka stuff that got scraped off a wine barrel somewhere) with a bit of cornstarch to keep it dry. Most baking powder we buy is double acting baking powder, which reacts twice: once in the presence of water, and again with heat. It's a titch more stable. Batters and doughs can sit a bit without going flat, though it's still good to bake them asap. You can also get single acting baking powder, which reacts like baking soda does, with liquid. That you also need to bake right away.

Recipes that are low in acid tend to call for baking powder, while higher acid want baking soda. Sometimes recipes will call for both, and that is so that the soda can neutralize some of the acid in the batter while the powder provides more lift. Some buttermilk biscuit recipes would be an example of this.

[wolfie]

It's why baking soda is called as it is because when you add water it fizzes like a soda.

Actually, you got that the other way around too. "Soda" is the old-fashioned name for sodium (just like "Potash" is Potassium, "Lime" is calcium, "Oil of vitrol" is sulphuric acid, etc). "Baking soda" is the sodium compound you bake with, just like "washing soda" is the sodium compound you add to your wash water if it's too hard, and "caustic soda" (NaOH) is a highly corrosive sodium compound (there's also "caustic potash"). "Soda" (as in the beverage) got its name from "soda water" (originally water that was made fizzy using baking soda and a mild acid, now merely carbonated water).

[lordlundar]

I stand corrected.

[42_42_42]

Quite sure it is baking soda, not powder.

So, I gotta wonder, how does the leavening happen in cookies? Cause just about every cookie recipe I see uses baking soda, and they fluff up just fine.

Cookies don't require the lift that cakes do. Tis why they are dense and flat compared to cake. You'll note that cake recipes usually call for much less flour than do cookie recipes, while the cake recipes also require more leavening than do cookie recipes.

http://www.joyofbaking.com/bakingsoda.html

[sms001]

I stand corrected.

You're lucky. I usually sit during my corrections; they usually take a while.

And this thread makes me miss Alton.

[dalesys]

You're lucky. I usually sit during my corrections; they usually take a while.

I really really try not to drop the soap...

[Ceir]

...jotted down, will have to give this one a try! Maybe when it's not so bloody hot outside.

[sms001]

I really really try not to drop the soap...

+

...jotted down, will have to give this one a try! Maybe when it's not so bloody hot outside.

Although I'm firmly against Excessive Quoting, here's a hint that "context is everything", Ceir.

Yeah, plenty cool here for baking, so I made them yesterday. delish!