Summertime is always so busy! Even though I’ve been so lucky to have such a long vacation before I star a master’s degree next month, I’ve been pretty occupied with lots of stuff. The first weekend of July I went off with my friends and my boyfriend to a nearby beach town, Suances, to play a handball beach tournament (well, I wasn’t actually playing, just watching). It’s actually a lot of fun if the weather’s nice (I say this due to the fact that I’ve been there three times… and it’s always rained at some point during the weekend) because we have an excuse to hang out all of us together and stay all day long at the beach. Believe it or not, even though I live next to the ocean I don’t go to the beach too much. In mid-July, two weeks later there’s another tournament, but this one 10 minutes away from home so we can actually plan our lunches for the long day at the beach and bring something from home instead of going out to eat.

My friend M brought Spanish tortilla (made with potatoes and eggs, and sometimes onions as well); another friend, C, brought homemade tuna empanada, and I brought chicken, tomato and cheese sandwiches on rosemary focaccia bread as well as dessert: the juiciest chocolate bundt cake I have ever eaten. Seriously. It calls for cocoa powder instead of chocolate and it turned out so, so dark – it seemed as if it were burnt but it wasn’t, it was delicious. And it’s so easy to make!

I made it the day before and it cut up a few pieces to bring to the beach (I also had some for breakfast before leaving!) and everyone loved it. We ate it as it is but the original recipe from Joy the Baker also has a glaze over it that looks amazing, and I think that it would taste even better with some whipped cream or fresh berries.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Adapted from Joy the Baker

• 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon brewed coffee
• 3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
• 2 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 large whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon whipping cream
• 70gr melted butter
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
2. Pour the brewed coffee and the cocoa into a saucepan, whisking constantly until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.
3. In a bowl, mix together the brown sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs and egg yolk on low speed for about a minute. Add the whipping cream, butter and olive oil and continue mixing for another minute.
4. Add the flour and mix for two minutes, increasing the speed to medium. Add the cocoa and coffee mixture until batter is well mixed (about 3 minutes). The batter will be very liquid, but that’s okay.
5. Pour batter onto bundt cake pan and bake for 55 minutes – 1 hour.

What do you think? Share your opinion in the comments.