Saturday, September 10, 2011

Good bye Mudcake...I've found another!

Happy Saturday everyone!! We just had our family pics taken this morning downtown Portland!! I can't wait to see them! My sweet baby girl decided she was D.O.N.E after about an hour and half of walking, posing and being held! :) It was funny because we could NOT get her to do anything...she wanted down on the ground SO bad! - I get it! But, we got lots of pics, so hopefully they'll be a keeper in there!! :)

So sorry I've been a bad blogger lately! :) With last minute vacations, school starting, and my sweet husband gone 11 hours a day again, I'm back to figuring out a new routine with three!! I'm getting back on my feet slowly but surely and am SUPER excited to show you the latest cake I'm working on!! :) - a castle cake for a sweet princess!! :) - but that's next week - stay tuned! Hopefully if time allows I'll get lots of good progress pics this week to be able to share!

Onto the mudcake! - A few weeks ago a couple wonderful ladies came over and brought some yummy chocolate cakes for me to try out. Since they were coming, I thought I'd bake up a new mudcake recipe I've been wanting to try to compare with their cakes and my regular mudcake I use all the time. I have to say, the mudcake is my new favorite dense, yummy, fudgy chocolate cake!! :) So, good bye old mudcake recipe...hello to the new one!! Here it is:

From Best Recipes - "Chocolate Mud Cake"
250g butter, chopped
200g dark chocolate
2 cups sugar
1-1/3 cups of strong coffee/espresso
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder (use good stuff!)
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:
Add first four ingredients into a saucepan and heat on low until melted and sugar is dissolved
Allow to cool for 10 minutes
Sift all flours together and add to cooled liquid, beating gently until incorporated
Add eggs and beat gently until incorporated well.
Pour mixture into greased cake tins and bake at 350 degrees for appropriate time! :) - depending upon pan size. My half sheet pan took 25 minutes and my 6" tins (filled 2/3 full) took 30 minutes. Every oven is different, so when it begins to crack on top, check it with a toothpick...when it comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs, it's done!
ENJOY! - it's actually better the 3rd day...I think the flavors gel together...so, it's okay to leave out! - in fact, it's encouraged! :)


New and Improved Mudcake Recipe!

15 comments:

  1. Sounds good! What frosting do you recommend to go with it?

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  2. Karla: Any frosting is amazing! I love a mocha frosting (add chocolate and espresso to my Swiss-meringue frosting)! - or even vanilla is amazing!

    Also, this cake is definitely better on the third day. It becomes almost fudgy like - like a brownie! It's flavor is amazing! Enjoy!

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  3. Thanks! I love your blog, you do such amazing work!! By the way, do you need to refrigerate Swiss meringue buttercream? Do you refrigerate fondant cakes? Such conflicting info out there!!!

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  4. Karla: I refrigerate everything...for structure & stability. Swiss Meringue can be left out for the day, but needs to be put back in the fridge if more than 8 hours or so...in my opinion. But it's fine to sit out while working on a cake or for a wedding.

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  5. Thank you for sharing! By any chance do you have a good vanilla recipe?

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  6. Hello..just found your blog and love it! Does this cake taste like coffee??

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  7. It has a background flavor of coffee when it's fresh out of the oven, but once it sits a day or two, you really can't taste "coffee"...you just taste "amazing chocolate!" :) It's best eaten on the 3rd day!! :) - believe it or not!

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  8. Jany@SuperCuteCookies: A great vanilla cake recipe is this one:

    http://cakecentral.com/recipe/vanilla-butter-cake-from-the-mermaid-bakery

    Best wishes!

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  9. Hi Miss Jessica, i am planning to make this mud cake for my husband's birthday. My question is, can i use ganache for frosting? will it taste better? and i just want to clarify if the 1-1/3 cup strong espresso means 1 to 1/3 cup or 1 and 1/3 cup? sorry about that, i am a bit confused :(
    I cant wait to impress my husband :) thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe! More power!

    Junnet

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  10. Anonymous: Yes, ganache would make it yummy and incredibly rich!! So, if he loves chocolate, that's the way to go!

    It's 1 cup + 1/3 cup.

    Let me know what you think! :)

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  11. I love your blog...you are so talented and very inspiring! One question...If I don't want to use coffee, what can I substitute?? Water, milk, chocolate milk? Thanks!

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  12. Anonymous: Yes, you can use water or milk! - oh, and chocolate milk - yum! :)

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  13. Sorry for all the questions...Curious if you have the weight measurements for your dry ingredients? Also, since you said it gets better by day 3, I'm assuming you don't freeze it when it comes out of the oven to lock in moisture...is that correct? Do you bake it three days before you will be serving it and just let it sit out? Thanks!

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  14. Anonymous: It depends upon the cake and my schedule. If I know it's going to be more than 3 days before I'm going to serve it, I'll still freeze it. I use 3.75oz of each flour, 2oz of cocoa powder and 14oz of sugar. Hope that helps! :)

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  15. That helps! You are awesome!

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