A delicious and decadent bake, for those who can’t.

I love ‘The Great British Bake Off’. Since starting maternity leave and discovering Netflix I can honestly say I have watched so much of it I literally dream about pastries. But, the problem I had was I’d watch Bake Off, pregnancy cravings and delusions of grandeur would kick in and I’d attempt to bake something….and then remember, cooking I’m alright at, baking; not so much. We won’t go into the disaster that was ‘square cake gate’.

So since having a baby and feeling like I need to keep myself occupied with stuff other than babies, to save my sanity, baking has become my new hobby to focus on.

It’s not been a major success so far. But I am nothing if not determined and something I do excel at is research. So hours trawling the internet and pulling together recipes combined with pretty good kitchen sense (and making about 3 of these cakes a week for nearly a month!) I think I have perfected the recipe for the best Fudge Cake.

Not only that, but this is a recipe so easy that as long as you can read, you can make it. It’s that easy! Don’t believe me, just give it a go. I promise if you are a chocolate fan you won’t regret it.

Ingredients:

200g of Dark Chocolate (The cheaper the better but must have at least 50% cocoa solids)

50g Milk Chocolate

50g White Chocolate

100g Plain White Flour

50g Cocoa Powder

175g Soft Dark Brown Sugar

200g Butter (Extra for greasing)

3 Large Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Essence

Pinch of sea salt.

Method

Preheat your oven to 180c. Grease a sandwich cake tin and line with grease proof paper. Cut butter into small pieces. Place in a pan with the dark chocolate. Put on the lowest heat setting possible and melt slowly, stirring regularly. Be careful not to burn. Measure out your sugar, flour and Cocoa. Combine in a large mixing bowl. Stir in salt and vanilla essence. Break eggs into a separate bowl and lightly beat with a small whisk or folk. You don’t need to over do this; just a quick mix together is fine. Make a well in the centre of your dry mix and add eggs. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold dry mix into eggs. Once butter and chocolate mix is completely melted, stir this into the rest of your ingredients. A slightly lumpy mix is absolutely fine but all ingredients need to be well combined. Roughly chop white and milk chocolate into small chunks. Stir into cake mix. Pour cake mix into your pre lined tin. Place in the centre of your oven and bake for 26 minutes. Fudge cake should be dense and sticky in the middle, slightly runny in the centre when hot. However you should still be able to put a knife through its centre and immediately pull it out to find the blade is clean. If cake mix has stuck, it will need returning to the oven for a little longer. As the centre is runny, you must wait for cake to completely cool before removing from tin. This may take some time If you want it warm, cut a slice and microwave for 30-40 seconds but don’t leave unattended. Best served warm with a little double cream.

Note:

The cake will be quite runny in the middle, more like a ‘melt in the middle’ pudding than a cake. Once completely cooled, if you chill the cake in the fridge it will set and become sticky but solid. However, if you would prefer a more dense cake like texture cook for a little longer; 30-32 minutes. You can also use this as brownie mix. If cooking in a brownie tin, which will spread the mix out further, cook for 20-23 minutes for sticky and gooey or 23-26 minutes for more cake like.

I’d love to see your attempts at this cake or if you come up with ways to improve it, I’d love to hear about them. Please post pictures of your creations or further ideas in the comments.