cake

Another Chocolate Fudge Cake

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chocolate cake

The last chocolate fudge cake has already had a couple of outings which is enough … time to look for another.

Having a couple of recipes up your sleeve is useful so you don’t bore people with the same cake all the time … and you never know, the next recipe may be better. This recipe comes from James Martin’s Desserts*. James Martin’s cake recipes rarely disappoint but my first attempt at this little number was not entirely successful – the chocolate fudge topping ended up rock hard, unspreadable and, frankly, pretty tasteless. I suspect the problem was with me and my handling of the hot sugar and evaporated milk mix. One day when I’m feeling brave I’ll have another go. In the meantime, the cake itself is still good and I came up with a clever work around for filling and topping.

The cake itself contains wholemeal flour so you can even pretend it’s healthy.

Grease and baseline a 20cm springform tin and preheat the oven to 170°C bake (not fan).

Cream 175g of unsalted butter with 175g of soft brown sugar. Measure out 175g of wholemeal self raising flour and remove one heaped tbsp of flour. Replace with 1 heaped tbsp of good quality cocoa and add 1 heaped tsp of baking powder before mixing with the butter and sugar. Add 3 large eggs.

The mixture is likely to be a little stiff so add a splash of water … Martin doesn’t give any exact quantities here but you are aiming for a mixture that plops off a spoon knocked against the edge of the bowl or mixer. Not too stiff but not a runny batter either … Of course, add extra water slowly and carefully because you can’t undo it if you add too much!

Bake the cake for 40 – 45 minutes (in my oven, 40 minutes is perfect) – until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then tip out on to a rack.

To finish the cake, cut in half and fill with jam (raspberry, of course!) and whipped cream and top with ganache. We used the ganache from the earlier chocolate fudge cake recipe, but made in half quantity – so about 100g of dark chocolate, 50g of butter (melted together) with about 70mL of thick cream beaten through.

Ganache suffers from the heat so you may have to refrigerate the cake, but if you can avoid it it is better left at room temperature.

*Also available from Amazon UK, Amazon US and worldwide from The Book Depository.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

- Alex 1 Comment

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Well, it’s Chocolate Week in the UK so it’s a happy coincidence that, at the last minute I decided to make a cake as an additional dessert for a BBQ with friends.

As I still subscribe to (and read!) a lot of UK based food newsletters chocolate was featuring heavily and this simple fudge cake recipe from the UK’s version of Delicious magazine stood out as something I could put together in a very limited amount of time.

I have to confess that part of the reason I was attracted to it was the use of red wine vinegar. There’s something about cake recipes with unusual ingredients that always makes me want to try them out!

The cake hit all the spots … it was super quick to make and everyone liked it (I even packed up a doggy bag for a missing husband!) so it’s definitely one I’ll be making again.

I followed the recipe pretty closely and was a bit scared by the ‘chuck all the dry ingredients’ in the food processor approach but it turned out OK. However, next time I might adopted a slightly more conventional ‘cream butter and sugar’ method …

Begin by greasing and baselining a 20cm spring form tin and preheat the oven to 160°C fan (or 180°C).

In your food processor (or mixing bowl) combine 100g unsalted butter, 15g cocoa powder, 300g self raising flour, 1 tsp bicarb soda, 225g caster sugar (use golden or unrefined if you can) and 2 eggs. If you’re mixing by hand or with an electric hand whisk you might want to sift the flour and bicarb first. The add 100g of melted dark chocolate (I am a new convert to melting chocolate in the microwave – but you do need to watch it very carefully!) and finish by mixing in 250mL of milk mixed with 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar.

Pour the batter in to the cake tin and bake for 1 hour, until firm in the centre and a skewer comes out clean (with my oven I think next time I’ll check after 55 minutes). Cool in the tin for a few minutes and then turn out to cool on a rack.

When the cake is cool, it’s time to make the ganache and finish the cake.

For the ganache, melt 225g dark chocolate with 100g unsalted butter (be careful with the microwave – watch carefully and mix every minute or so to keep an eye on things – you don’t want the microwave coated in butter and chocolate!). Stir this mix until smooth and then add in about 150mL of thick (not thickened) cream. As this is an English recipe it specifies a 142mL carton of double cream so I just guessed approximately 150mL from my 200mL carton of pure cream.

Allow the ganache to cool to a good, spreadable consistency and then slice the cake in half. Use approximately a quarter of the ganache for filling and then use the remainder as icing. Make sure you resist ‘tidying up’ the ganache until you’ve finished with the cake!

The cake kept well for about 2 days … by that time it was all eaten (mostly served with cream!).

Lemon and Thyme Cake

- Alex 3 Comments

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I have just ended up with a pile of lemons and a surfeit of eggs. I’m working my way through both … slowly.

I spotted this recipe for a lemon and thyme cake about a month ago and I invariably find Nigel Slater’s cake recipes flawless (his chocolate brownie recipe is fantastic). I am also a sucker for cakes using ground almonds and cakes dredged in syrup when they come out of the oven … Of course, being a lemon and thyme cake … I now have an excess of thyme hanging around the house.

As I was using my trusty Magimix I took some short cuts with Slater’s method … but if you don’t bake a lot or you’re doing the hard work by hand, I’d defer to his recipe rather than what follows …

Preheat oven to 160°C. Slater doesn’t specify if this is normal or fan forced but, as I opted for normal bake and had to cook the cake for a lot longer than suggested, I think it’s fan forced. Grease a 1lb loaf tin and line with baking paper (yes, actually do this!).

Cream 200g butter with 200g caster sugar, and then add 100g plain flour, ½ tsp baking powder and 100g ground almonds. I always mix between each addition. Then add 4 large eggs. Finish by adding the finely grated zest of one large lemon (depending on how much you like lemon) and approximately 1 tsp of finely chopped fresh thyme leaves (you really can’t go the dried route here).

This makes a really thick batter so you’re going to have to spoon it in to the tin, rather than pour. Don’t be alarmed.

Slater says to bake for 45 mins. At 160°C, no fan, this wasn’t long enough and I ended up baking for just over an hour. If you can, opt for 160°C fan forced, or try 180°C in a normal oven.

Just before the cake finishes baking, make the syrup. In a pan over a moderate heat, dissolve 4 tbsp of caster sugar in the juice of 2 large lemons, adding in ½ tsp of thyme leaves. Make sure the sugar dissolves but don’t bring the mix to the boil. This did make a generous amount of syrup (not that it worried the cake) so don’t be too fussed about sourcing huge lemons!

When the cake comes out of the oven, take a long skewer and poke holes all over the cake, all the way to the bottom and then drizzle the syrup over the cake evenly, before allowing to cool in the tin.

Because you did use the baking paper to line the tin, when the cake is cool simply pull it out of the tin and cut in generous slices. Slater suggests serving with thick yoghurt but you don’t even need that.

Absolutely delicious – and I think it took me longer to do the dishes than put the cake together!