Who knew that mud cakes were actually that easy to make? I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay and as usual, made some changes to it. When I first saw the recipe, I was shocked that it was that simple – mixing of the wet and dry ingredients together. I’ve added coffee granules into my mud cake because it gives a little punch and helps to enhance the taste of the chocolate.

Warning: this mud cake is very rich, moist and absolutely delicious. If you are a huge chocolate fan and trying to be on a diet, then this cake is your kryptonite. I’ve always like to use Lindt 90% dark chocolate in my baking but Cadbury 86% dark coco works perfectly fine too. The trick to making the perfect chocolate cake lies in the quality of the chocolate used so don’t scrimp on it!

I made this cake twice, the first time without Kahlua and the second time with Kahlua. Honestly, I could not taste the alcohol because the chocolate was overpowering. One thing about chocolate cakes is that they age like wine – they taste better over the next few days. I prefer to store my chocolate cakes at room temperature rather than in the fridge so that it maintains that soft moist texture.

Ingredients

1. 200g unsalted butter
2. 200g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 90% dark)
3. 330ml full cream milk
4. 250g caster sugar
5. 1 tbsp instant coffee granules
6. 2 eggs
7. 225g plain flour
8. 35g self-raising flour
9. 25g cocoa powder
10. 1/2 tsp salt

To make the ganache

1. 150g dark chocolate
2. 20g unsalted butter
3. 1/2 tsp salt
4. 30ml milk

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 150°C.
2. Prepare a lightly greased 22cm round cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper
3. Place the butter, chocolate, milk, sugar, salt and coffee granules in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally until melted and smooth.
4. Pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
5. Add the eggs and whisk to combine
6. Sieve the flours and cocoa into the large bowl and whisk until smooth
7. Pour into the cake tin and cook for an hour or until the skewer comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool completely in the tin.

To make the chocolate ganache

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave in bursts of thirty seconds. Make sure that you don’t over do it if not the chocolate would separate
2. Add in the milk and salt and stir gently with a wooden or silicon spoon until a nice smooth ganache is formed
3. Spread the ganache over the cooled cake and sprinkle some cocoa dust over it.

And there you have it! The classic chocolate mud cake!