Thrown-Together Chocolate Cake

I got this recipe from an old lady who lived across the street from me in a suburb of Johannesburg. All my down-home cake recipes flopped at that altitude (6,000 ft), until she gave me this one. She'd lived there all her life. It's definitely not fancy, but whether at lower or higher altitudes, it's always worked for me -- and it's literally thrown together. I'm writing it down as she gave it to me.

• Ready In: 1 hr 5 mins
• Yields: 1 cake

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄3 cups  superfine sugar
• 1 1⁄2 cups flour
• 1⁄3 cup  soft butter
• 3  eggs
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 3  teaspoons baking powder
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 3  tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 1  teaspoon instant coffee powder

Directions

1. Oven: 350 deg F/ 180 deg Celsius.
2. Grease 1 fairly large or 2 smaller cake tins with butter.
3. (Later I increased the butter to 1/2 cup, and also added 1 teaspoon mixed spice.).
4. Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl, more or less in the order given. Beat well with electric mixer until creamy and smooth.
5. Ladle into greased tins, tap to remove some air bubbles, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 mins - 1 hour.
6. (Two smaller tins might bake faster than 1 large tin. Do test with a skewer before removing).
7. Turn out and cool.