Double Chocolate Mud Cake

Posted by sweettreatsbythesea on

This is my favourite mud cake recipe that I have used many times. The recipe can easily be doubled to make a larger cake.

The recipe is taken from a book printed in the mid 1990s – Baking (the good taste collection) by Anneka Manning.

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Finlay’s birthday – the yacht is made of fondant, the sand is biscuit crumbs and the water is piping gel coloured blue.
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I made this mud cake for my friend Geoff for his birthday. The motor bike and lettering are made of chocolate.
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Kerry’s birthday – the frogs are made of fondant and the lettering chocolate.
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Amanda’s birthday, all decorations made of chocolate

Ingredients for cake

  • 200 g butter
  • 200 g good quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped
  • 30 g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder, sifted
  • 2 tbls expresso instant coffee powder
  • 60 ml (1/4 cup) water
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 220 g (1 cup) castor sugar
  • 3 eggs at room temperature
  • 115 g (3/4 cup) SR flour, sifted

Ingredients for ganache

  • 150 g good quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) thin cream
  1. Preheat oven to 160°C (less for a fan forced oven). Brush a deep round 22 cm cake pan with melted butter and line the base with baking paper.
  2. Combine the butter, chocolate, cocoa, coffee powder, water and vanilla essence in a medium heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir until smooth and well combined. Remove the bowl from the pot and set aside for 10 minutes or until the mixture is lukewarm.
  3. Use electric beaters to whisk the sugar and eggs in a large bowl, until pale and creamy. Add the chocolate mixture and whisk until well combined. Add the flour and again whisk until well combined.
  4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake for around 55 minutes or until moist crumbs cling to a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake. The surface make have cracks across it.
  5. Remove from the oven and leave in pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  6. To make the ganache, combine the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside for 1.5 hours stirring occasionally until cooled to room temperature and thickened to a spreadable consistency.
  7. Spread the ganache over the cooled cake. Use a warm palette knife for a smooth finish.
  8. Use a warm knife to cut the cake cleanly.

Tips

  • I used large sized eggs
  • I also used just 1 tbls of expresso instant coffee
  • Don’t store the cake in the frige before serving or the ganache will go quite hard.
  • If doubling the recipe to cook a larger cake in 30 cm cake pan, cooking time is only about 10 minutes longer.

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