Baking with Love (and Oven Mitts): Nana’s Chocolate Cake Recipe

Some recipes live on scraps of paper. Others get typed up, scribbled on, handed down, or tucked into cookbooks with butter smudges and cocoa stains. This one? It’s extra special.

Nana’s Chocolate Cake is a family classic—originally from my mum’s handwritten cookbook, passed down from her own mum, and re-named from Mum’s chocolate to Nana’s Chocolate Cake for me when I moved out. It’s been baked for birthdays, school lunches, rainy days and just-because days. It’s simple, rich, and made with wartime smarts—no eggs!—which makes it perfect for when the fridge is looking a bit sad but the craving hits hard.

And of course, when it’s time to check if it’s done and pull it out of the oven, I’m doing it in style—with one of my dog-themed oven mitts, naturally.

Here’s the recipe, straight from the family archives to your kitchen.

Nana’s Chocolate Cake (Egg-free and full of love)

You’ll need:

• 1 cup of milk

• ¾ cup sugar

• 125g butter

• 2 dessertspoons golden syrup

• 1½ cups flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 dessertspoons cocoa

• 1 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line a cake tin.

2. Melt butter.

3. Add sugar, golden syrup, and ¾ cup of milk to the melted butter. Stir gently until smooth.

4. In a separate small bowl or cup, mix the baking soda with ¼ cup of boiled milk, then add it to the butter mixture. (It’ll fizz a little—magic!)

5. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and cocoa, then stir to combine.

6. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes.

7. Check it’s baked by inserting a knife (using your new oven mitts, of course!). If it comes out clean, it’s ready.

8. Let it cool completely before icing.

The Icing (the way Nana did it)
There’s no exact recipe here—just muscle memory and taste. Mix a bit of softened butter, icing sugar, cocoa and a splash of boiling water until thick and smooth. You want it to stick to the cake, not slide off the sides. Once the cake is cool, spread generously and enjoy.

A Quick Note About Ingredients
Yes, this recipe is egg-free—and that’s because it was created during the egg shortage in wartime. But it’s not vegetarian or vegan, as it still contains butter. So, if that’s important for you, just keep that in mind.

Baking it now? Tag me!
If you make Nana’s cake, I’d love to see it! Tag me on Instagram and show off your baking skills (bonus points if you're rocking one of my oven mitts while doing it). There’s something so comforting about old recipes, new mitts, and a kitchen that smells like chocolate.