Going organic the easy way

After the last chocolate cake I baked from scratch, you would think I would learn my lesson after seeing my husband and kids bite into my brick-hard cake. OK, maybe it wasn't quite brick-hard since their teeth are all still intact, but the cake sure wasn't soft and chewy.

But it was my son's birthday this past weekend and, like my husband, my son just loves chocolate cake. So I decided to try again, this time using a different recipe, one from my new cookbook, Organic and Chic by Sarah Magid, which I wrote about here.



Baking with kids, especially as young as mine, can be more difficult and time-consuming than doing it on my own, but I really enjoy spending this time with my kids and think it's a terrific way for them to begin learning basic kitchen techniques. Because of their age, I usually give them simple tasks, like helping me arrange the cupcake liners on the pans and pouring ingredients into mixing bowls.



Here, they're helping me arrange my ingredients (though I actually ended up not needing the butter for this recipe):



With a title like "easiest chocolate cake," it's hard to go wrong:



... unless you have a two-year-old in the kitchen who mistakenly dumps the sugar on the countertop instead of the mixing bowl. Oops!



In all, it really was the easiest chocolate cake I've ever baked, since it only took us about 20 minutes altogether. Yum!



The frosting took us longer than an hour, in part because the instructions were more detailed and there was less for my kids to do so I also had to keep them occupied with other activities while I fiddled with my stand mixer.

My son chose a light, cloud-like frosting out of three I showed him in the book. The ones in the book were brighter, but ours came out in pastel colors:



I'm happy to report that, this time, no chipped teeth and cheers from my husband on going organic. The book is full of such beautiful images that I can't wait to thumb through it again to find a recipe for an everyday treat we can enjoy soon.