Say ‘I love you’ with a Valentine’s Day chocolate cake

Valentine’s Day.  For some, it’s a holiday ruined by commercialization. For others, it’s a day filled with sappy love stuff made for couples.

For me, it’s a day for celebrating chocolate with the ones you love.

The good thing about chocolate is that it has health benefits if consumed in proper portions. This does not mean a chocolate bar a day keeps the doctor away. Chocolate has the potential to help reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke and has even been found to lower cholesterol levels due to the antioxidants found in cacao (the seeds from which cocoa and chocolate are made.)

Remember that chocolate does contain a lot of sugar. If indulging for health benefits, look for chocolate that has had the least amount of processing and additives such as sugar and milk. Always read before you eat. Look for a dark chocolate that has 70 percent or more cacao in it and eat in moderation for maximum benefits.

Besides being beneficial to your health, chocolate can also be beneficial to one’s love life. Now chocolate has some tough competition when it comes to being an aphrodisiac. It doesn’t even come close in comparison to what consuming raw oysters can do to your love life, but when chocolate is consumed it does release two chemicals into the body, phenylethylamin and seratonin — and both are related to boosting your mood.

That’s one reason why Valentine’s Day is a perfect day for celebrating my love for chocolate. Everyone else around me gets to share in the celebration, which has its benefits, of course.

This year I’m celebrating with a homemade chocolate cake. Remember, I am not a baker, so if I am baking a cake it must not be rocket science. I topped mine with homemade whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

In my opinion, there truly is no better way to anybody’s heart than a delicious and tasty homemade treat.

One important recommendation: Use cake flour. It will give you the consistency and crumb of the cakes you normally get from a bakeshop or grocery store.

Homemade Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 cups cake flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup greek yogurt

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 inch x 9 inch pan or two 8 inch rounds (for easier removal line the bottom of your rounds with a circle of parchment paper), set aside.

• In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. In a separate bowl combine the cake flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk, beating until smooth. Add the yogurt and mix until well incorporated.

• Pour the batter into the grease baking pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cake tests done, by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is done. Cool on a wire rack. If removing the cake from the rounds to form a layered cake, remove from pans 15-20 minutes after cooling on a wire rack, continue to cool cakes on the wire racks before icing. Top your cooled cake with a dusting of confectioners sugar, whipped cream and berries or your favorite icing.

Kayleigh Van Vliet Baig was born and raised in Riverhead, where she lives with her husband Tahir.

Kayleigh has been in the culinary industry for the last 12 years, working in kitchens on the East End. She also is a personal chef.

Look for In the Kitchen with Kayleigh every Saturday on RiverheadLOCAL.com.

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