No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better...

Sunday, April 10, 2011

The best of excuses

It was Mr. P's birthday yesterday.  So of course that could only mean one thing...

I first made this cake in my teens and made it so often I copied it into a notebook (hard to believe I was ever that person).  But then for some reason I stopped and haven't made a chocolate fudge cake for years and years.  It was always going to be something chocolatey for Mr. P.  I tried to push the idea of Nigella's chocolate and ginger as recommended by Annie of Nimble Fingers and Steady Eyebrows but Mr. P was having none of it.  (Sorry Annie, but I will doubtless find another reason to bake that soon...)   And it being his birthday, I couldn't really say no.

It's a simple recipe (see below), which is really just an excuse to make the icing...



... which is oh so sweet, but somehow just perfect.

The cake stand was put to work again, and this is just the cake it was made for....



The weekend wasn't all baking though.  I tried to make an ipad case with this lovely fabric that I mentioned here...


I will post about the disaster that followed another time when I've stopped sulking and figured out how to fix it.  I may be some time.

My head was full of sewing on my way to brunch when I came across this:


I was running late so didn't have time to go an investigate.  I suspect it was for one of the local hairdresser, but what if it was the sewing fairy come to tell me how to fix my fiasco?

Hope you had a lovely weekend.

C.x
Chocolate Fudge Cake
6 oz butter or marg
6 oz dark brown sugar
2 large tablespoons cocoa blended with 2 tablespoons boiling water and left to cool
3 eggs
6oz self raising flour
2 oz ground almonds

Icing
2 oz marg
3 tablespoons milk
1 rounded tablespoon cocoa
8 oz icing sugar

Cake:
Mix all the ingredients together until smooth.  Divide between two 7 inch sandwich tins.  Bake for 25-35 minutes at gas mark 4. (Simple!)

Icing
Place milk, marg and cocoa in a saucepan over low heat until marg melts (do NOT allow to boil).  Cool a little.  Sieve icing sugar into bowl and add cooled mixture.  Beat until smooth  Leave to go completely cold before icing.

Enjoy!

7 comments:

  1. Thanks, I can always use a tried and true cake recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mmmm, chocolate fudge cake is the best. Yours looks delish. I'm sure Annie will help you with the ipad case, she's very good at keeping gadgets cozy! Laura x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooooo that is stupendous!!!!! I lurve chocolate cake of any description. I like the idea of added almonds - yum! xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy belated birthday to Mr.P. The cake looks delicious and a wonderful excuse to use your gorgeous cake stand again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy to help with the iPad case if you would like me to. Take a photo of what you have so far and I might be able to come up with something. I always unpick my sewing, again and again and again, the trick is to get a good unpicker. The cake looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chocolate and fudge - what a fantastic combo.

    Nina x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh now that does look good!!!!
    And very timely too, as I have a birthday cake to make this week too!
    Thanks for sharing the recipe!
    Sorry to hear the ipod case didnt work out - often these things dont first time and you have to re-think it and unpick it or start afresh - it can be very frustrating!
    I had a similar thing with the eye masks the other day - they came out beautifully each time but were either too small, too big......so you either keep going with gritted teeth until you get it how you want it, or walk away and leave it a while then go back when you have new resolve!
    Good Luck
    Gill x

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...