Chocolate Mud Cake

This easy chocolate mud cake is a must for your recipe collection. You can whip it up in next to no time, and it's moist, fluffy and delicious. It also stays fresh for days and only uses basic pantry staple ingredients, which is a bonus!

Ingredients:

Makes one 7" round cake.

Dry Ingredients:

• 250g (9oz) self raising flour
• 35g (1oz) cocoa powder
• 180g (6oz) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

 Wet Ingredients:

• 250ml (9 fl oz) water
• 125ml (4 fl oz) oil
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

 Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
• Prepare cake tin with a thin coat of oil based spray and a baking paper disc.
• Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk to get rid of any lumps.
• Add the wet ingredients to a separate mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until fully incorporated.
• Pour into cake tin and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
• Cool on a wire rack.

Variations:

• For an orange chocolate cake: Add the zest of an orange to the dry ingredients. Squeeze the juice of the orange into the measuring jug to form part of the water quantity, top it up with water to the required total.
• For a coffee chocolate cake: Add 2 teaspoons of instant coffee powder to the dry ingredients. Add some coffee buttercream frosting for an extra coffee burst.
• For a white mud cake: Swap out the cocoa powder for more self-raising flour.
• To add any extra flavours, swap out the essence. For example pineapple essence, hazelnut essence, raspberry essence, etc.

Chocolate Ganache Icing

Ingredients:

• 125ml (4 fl oz) cream
• 250g (9oz) dark chocolate

Method:

• Bring the cream to the boil.
• Turn off the heat and whisk in the chocolate.
• Whisk until smooth and glossy - all the chocolate should be completely melted.
• Leave to cool and harden.

Variation:

• To make the cake fully vegan, substitute the cream for coconut cream and follow the same method.