I’d like to be up front in saying that I don’t believe in using reduced or low-fat dairy options, or any form of margarine or blended butter-impersonating spreads in my cooking.  It seems to me that too much tampering with milk, cheeses, yoghurt and butter is turning what should be such natural, traditional products into the laboratory-created frankensteins that line the refrigerated shelves of our supermarkets.  I may well be wrong, but my gut feeling is that the obesity epidemic the world is currently facing stems partially from the introduction of these kinds of modified foods.  More thoughts on this subject matter to come…

So, with that said, here’s a toast to the simple things in life, to a home that’s sweetly-scented from baking and to one delicious, but easy chocolate cake that our family loves – dressed-up and decorated for special occasions or simply iced and sliced for afternoon tea or school lunch box treats.

A Little Note:

I’ve come to very much love my set of digital kitchen scales and can’t stress how invaluable they are when it comes to baking.  I find there can be way too much variation scooping out or pouring ingredients like flour into a measuring cup.  There are also unfortunately differences in the measurements of what different countries around the world call a ‘cup’…  Most notably is the ‘British Cup’ which holds slightly more than the others.