Jo Wheatley's (you know, her of Great British Bake Off fame) recipe for Chocolate Mud Cake has fast become one of my favourite cake recipes. Why? Well, it's simple to follow, deliciously moist and tastes absolutely scrumptious - I love it, even though I'm not a fan of chocolate cake at all!
Bake this and serve alongside strawberries and lashings of cream, or just put your feet up and enjoy with a good cuppa.
Sam x
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| My attempt at Chocolate Mud Cake! |
175g unsalted butter, softened
300g caster sugar
3 large eggs, beaten
75g self-raising flour
200g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75g 3oz cocoa
200ml sour cream, at room temperature
50g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
For the chocolate ganache:
200g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate
250ml double cream
Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm round spring form tin, then line the base with a disc of buttered baking paper.
2) Take an electric whisk (or a free-standing mixer if you're lucky!) and beat the butter and caster sugar until pale, light and fluffy - it should be the colour of magnolia paint when ready.
3) Gradually add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Next, sift the flours, bicarb and cocoa into a bowl. Add half of the sifted, dry ingredients to the egg and sugar mixture and fold.
4) Take a separate bowl (sorry, I'm creating lots of washing up for you!) and mix the sour cream and cream cheese until smooth. Add half to the cake batter and fold in. Repeat this process with the remaining flour and sour cream and mix until smooth.
5) Spoon the cake batter into the prepared tin and spread level. Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean - be warned though, it only took an hour for the cake to cook in my oven!
6) Leave the cake to cool slightly, then turn out on to a wire rack. Cover with a chocolate ganache (finely chop the chocolates and heat in the microwave with the double cream. Stir until smooth, cool, then chill to firm). If you want to make the cake extra extra moist and gooey (and, let's face it, who doesn't?!), then try adding a cocoa sugar syrup (see below) to the cake as soon as it's out of the oven.
Chocolate syrup
Mix 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder with half a cup of water. Next, tip a cup of sugar and half a cup of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the cocoa paste and whisk until combined. Turn down the heat and cook until the syrup has reduced. Use a little to brush the top of the cake.
