Dee's (not so secret now) very easy chocolate fudge cake recipe



8" and 10" chocolate cakes stacked

We had great excitement in the house this weekend with an 8th birthday party yesterday. Being slightly distracted when our youngest was writing out her party invitations it was only after she'd handed them out that I discovered she'd written 40 (silly mummy, lesson learned).

Even allowing for some of her guests not turning up that still meant a big cake was in order. Thankfully on the day the sun was shining and the bouncy castle and a football kept them all entertained outside.



Several different cake mixes



When I was a full time mum I used to make cakes for friends and family - just for fun wedding, birthday or special occasion cakes. The house picture was Mr G's 40th cake.. a near replica of our house which has been an ongoing renovation project for the past 10 years. It was a mixture of chocolate, Madeira, chocolate biscuit and gingerbread and lots of fun to make.

 This weekend the small one's request was for a triple decker chocolate cake. We compromised with a gooey double decker and now I'm not making nearly as many cakes as I used to, am sharing one of my recipes below...


Gingerbread House (filled with sweets)


For a 10" round chocolate cake baked in a deep cake tin you'll need the following ingredients at room temperature:

450g unsalted butter
450g caster sugar, sieved
8 medium free range eggs
450g self raising flour, sieved
4 tblsp warm water
4 tblsp cocoa mixed with 4 tblsp warm water

Oven temperature 160oC, cooking time 75 mins (or thereabouts).

As the quantity of ingredients is quite large to fit into the food processor bowl, I whiz up the butter and sugar in the processor first until mixed, then add the rest of the ingredients in no particular order, stopping the mix now and again to incorporate with a spatula.

Grease and line a deep cake tin, pour in the smooth mixture then bake, testing with a skewer towards the end. Once the cake's out of the oven, leave for a few minutes to cool before turning out onto a rack.

When I'm cutting cakes into different shapes, once cooled I wrap them up in tin foil and freeze them. This makes them easier to cut into unusual shapes and decorate without getting cake crumbs everywhere.



Chocolate Cake covered with fondant icing

 For enough chocolate fudge to fill and cover the 10" cake the ingredients are:

185g granulated sugar
100g unsalted butter
250g Cocoa Chocolate 70%
185g evaporate milk
2-5 drops vanilla essence

Combine the sugar and evaporated milk in a heavy saucepan. Place the pan over low heat and allow the sugar to dissolve, stirring frequently. When all the granules of sugar have melted, bring the mixture to the boil and simmer gently for 6 minutes without stirring.



Madeira Cake covered with fondant icing

 Take the pan off the heat, stir in the chocolate pieces and keep stirring until the chocolate has melted. Finally stir in the butter and vanilla essence.

Transfer to a bowl, cool then cover with clingfilm and chill for a couple of hours until it's thickened.

All that's left to do then is to spread it on and get gooey! Enjoy :)