Ever since my sister introduced me to this mud cake, o-em-gee!! Like seriously out of this world good. Just look at the ingredients, no wonder it tastes amazing… loaded with real chocolate, sugar and butter! When she first made it for me, I ate without any guilt. Now that I made it and know whats inside, I could only have a bite…hehe But on a serious note, if you want to indulge and make it for an occassion, THIS is the chocolate mud cake to make. TRUST ME on this!

And this cake was what I made for a friends farewell party.

^Please excuse the bad photo quality. I was cutting it during the event and kids were all next to me hassling for a piece lol. This was the best pic I could take. Photo does not reflect how moist the cake actually is.

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE
Adapted from thrumykitchenwindow

Ingredients for cake

250gm butter
250gm dark cooking chocolate
2tbsp instant espresso coffee powder
150gm self-raising flour
150gm plain flour
60gm cocoa powder
1/2tsp bicarb soda
550gm caster sugar
4 eggs
2tbsp vegetable oil or light olive oil
125ml milk

Ingredients for chocolate ganache
150gm dark cooking chocolate
60gm melted unsalted butter

 

Method:

1. Grease a deep 23cm round cake tin. Line the base and sides with baking paper, making sure the paper extends well above the top of the tin.

2. Dissolve the coffee in 185mls hot water. Put the melted butter, sugar, melted chocolate and dissolved coffee in a mixing bowl and stir until corporated.

3. Dry ingredients: Sift the flours, cocoa and bicarb of soda into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.

4. Add the combined eggs, oil and milk; using a large spoon or spatula mix well into the dry ingredients. Add  half the cooled melted chocolate mixture (from step 2); stir well till there are no lumps.  Add the remaining half; make sure the mixture is well combined.  It should be of a pourable consistency.

5. Pour the mixture into the carefully lined cake tin. Place into a preheated oven set at 130 – 150degrees celcius. No higher.  It should be baked long, slow and low heat. Bake for approx 1 3/4 hours. It is not unusual for the top of the cake to develop a crust or for the centre to be slightly sunken. Place the cake on a rack; leave in tin until completely cold. Once cold; cover securely with a tea towel.  Leave overnight.

6. Turn cake out, remove all of the lining. Examine the cake. You want a level cake when it comes to decorating; therefore if it is not even it may be necessary to slice off some of the crusty bits until it is level with the centre of the cake. Sometimes the cake may have a slight rise. In this instance simply cut off the risen bit in the centre. Sometimes you won’t have to do a thing.

7. Once you have achieved a flat, top surface, turn the cake upside down. It is wise to do this on the serving plate with some cutouts of baking paper around the edges and under the cake. This alleviates any messiness and once the icing becomes firm, the baking paper can be removed leaving your cake looking immaculately decorated.

8. In a small glass bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate. Do not overheat. In another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Once again, do not overheat or ‘sizzle’ the butter; just till almost melted. Pour this into the melted chocolate and slowly incorporate the two together. Stir until well combined and you have achieved a nice glossy, pouring chocolate.

9. Pour ganache onto the centre of the cake. Using a spatula or a knife, spread the ganache all over the cake. If the weather is hot or humid you can take a little more time to get it right. If the weather is cold you may have to work more quickly as the chocolate ganache may begin to harden.

10. Allow the topping to set at room temperature. If at any time you place it in the fridge you will lose the glossy shine. It won’t affect the taste, it just won’t look as silky smooth.