Nina's Fondant au Chocolat

When I first moved to Europe I was shocked that I could not find box cake mix. I thought maybe Europeans don't eat cake at home? Or they just have to buy them? But to my surprise that is not that case they....MAKE THEM FROM SCRATCH!

I couldn't believe so many people made scratch cakes, personally I thought scratch cakes where an art form that only certain moms could proclaim (as mine does) by saying " I made this from scratch." And even at that it is only for special occasions. Betty Croker is defiantly a brand I would have been familiar with but from Scratch all the time. Now after almost 2 year abroad I have become more and more comfortable with my baking abilities. I started off with a cake receipt for kids and have worked my way up. Now to be honest I'm not going to win awards or anything but I will be able to proclaim..."I made that from scratch."

Nina's Foudant au Chocolat come from the 15 year girl I mind who is such a pleasure to be around. Now I can go on and on about what a joy she is and how smart and clever she is but we are talking cakes, and she truly makes a great chocolate cake! Not only is it a great cake it is also very easy!

A few days ago Nina and I were at the shop buying the stuff for the cake. I spotted my old friend Betty Croker and thought it would be so much easier and cheaper just to do it this way. I picked up the box and Nina looked at me like I was confused and said,"Elizabeth that is fake cake, we want real cake." I had to laugh at this. I never thought of Betty making fake cake only easy cake. Either way I but the box down and went on with our search ofthe right ingredients. And here it is:

2 cups flour

1 cups sugar (Nina always put a bit more when I'm not looking)

1 cup butter (1 bar or about 3 sticks)

1 king size bar of dark 70% chocolate

4 large eggs

Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave till they blend together. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients; flour and sugar. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter and chocolate mixture. Then add the eggs one at a time mixing them in. Pour mixture into a greased round cake pan. Bake for 20-25 mins at 185 C or 365 F. Let cake completely cool then ENJOY!

Also this cake is very diverse you can change it around. Instead of chocolate you can mix in yogurt with different jams or fruits. Nina's favorite at the moment is chocolate with bananas.