Sunday, June 6, 2010

A chocolate mud cake recipe from the professionals

Today I wanted to share this recipe with you. WHY? because it is so good. So good in fact I believe a large portion of the Whangarei cake decorators guild (that sell their cakes) all use this recipe. Every few years, as new memebers join our guild, this recipe gets talked about again - and the recipe is again printed off for all members. Full credit for the original goes to Heather Clarke, a long term member of our club. The winning attributes of this recipe, is the cakes keeping qualities (allowing for several days decorating time during the week, ahead of a weekend wedding). It also tastes great, is lovely and dark & moist. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, there is a tried & tested banana alternative. It freezes well. Many of the members say, even though they have tried other recipes from time to time, they always go back to this one.
Chocolate or Banana Mud Cake (Heather Clarke)
400g butter
3 cups sugar
2 cups milk
4 tbsp Golden Syrup
Warm together until sugar is dissolved. Cool. Add 5 cups of flour.
For Chocolate cake add
4 heaped tbsp cocoa
2 cups milk
4 tsp baking soda dissolved in milk
Optional* add 100g melted chocolate if desired
For Banana cake add
2 cups mashed banan
1/4 cup milk
4tsp baking soda (dissolved in milk)
Bake 160 degrees celcius for 2 hours (recipe will fill a deep 10-11'' tin). Tie wet newspaper (three or 4 thicknesses - do not overlap at join) around outside of tin. Don't use fan bake.

35 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this recipe - I'm keen to give it a try. A question from a mud cake novice: what's the wet newspaper for?

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  2. it does quite a few things, it stops the utside burning before the middle cooks, it also stops the centre being a really high dome, meaning it is more level, so less waste, when you're actually charging for the cake.

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  3. Thank you! What do I use to tie the newspaper around the cake tin without it overlapping? Ordinary string?

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  4. yes regular string (no plastic content)

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  5. Hi Sandra, for the chocolate cake.
    Just to confirm the recipe, you add all the first ingrediants then add the second lot. So there is 4 cups of milk?
    Regards

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  6. yes this is how it was given to me - allt he ladies swear by it.

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  7. sandra do you think you could find the best milk chocolate cake recipe ????

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  8. Can you halve this recipe successfully? and does a skewer need to come out clean when cooked?

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  9. I believe it would be better not to try and half it. It is more successful in this quantity

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  10. thanks Sandra! do you know why some chocolate mudcakes are wet on the inside? do the bakers not cook it long enough? also why do you say not to use a fan oven? cheers,

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  11. Wet on the inside, can be many reasons, 1 of which you suggested. Do not use a fan oven, as it will cook the outside, before the inside is done

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  12. Hi Sandra. Are there definitely no eggs in this recipe ??

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  13. I have double checked this recipe several times with the owner, as previously, I've had the comments about "that's a lot of milk", they tell me it's correct.

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  14. Could you please direct me to ideas for icing and simple decorating for a mudcake for my grandson's 21st. I am excited about using this cake recipe. Thankyou

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  15. A good place to start is www.wilton.com

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  16. Hello, I would like to try this recipe, Im just wandering, the flour you use in it, is it just plain flour? And with the newspaper, do you put on top of the cake too?? or just around the outside of the tin

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  17. yes normal flour and only on the sides for newspaper

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  18. Oh Kool, im gonna make it tonight, thank you. Will let you know how I go.

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  19. OMG! This cake was AMAZING...Howeva it only took 1hour for my cake to cook, did I do something wrong? And the newspaper only stayed on for like 20min, I thought it was gonna burn lmao
    But I loved it, and so did everyone who ate it. 10/10 cake recipe,

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  20. what sort of chocolate do you use dark or milk and when do you add it to recipe thanks

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  21. just add to mixed batter if desired. It doesn't matter milk or dark. Personally I would use dark

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  22. Hi have just made the cake it is darker about an inch in from the outside why do you think this mite be did I not mix the melted chocolate in properly?I dont think its burnt havent cut it yet just came out of the oven.maybe i should have cooked it for a shorter time.

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  23. what brand of dark chocolate is best to use

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  24. It really doesn't matter what brand

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  25. Not sure why it's darker, without knowing exactly what you did, I'm a bit stumped

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  26. thanks for that have cut the cake it tastes yummy.Friend of mine suggested putting baking paper over the top of cake in the last half hour of cooking stops the top getting browner will try that next time

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  27. hi have made the cake again and get this dark top i think is is from the melted chocolate i added it to the milk and bakind soda then the batter. should i just add it to the batter first

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  28. Would you add the chocolate to the butter sugar and milk to melt or would this go hard as it cools or when is the best time to add the melted chocolate

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  29. I have always baked cupcakes, my step daughter asked for a mud cake for her 23rd birthday party.What a surpised she got.
    This was the best she has had, my wife loved it, everyone loved it. Thank you for sharing this.

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  30. it seems like a long time to cook at 160 are you sure it is not going to burn? what happens to the news paper when it drys out do I leave it around the tin?

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  31. can I use piece of cloth instead of newspaper?

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  32. MMMM great cake, thanks so much. I made a huge square one and it cooked perfectly. Used dark choc and the baking paper trick too.

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  33. Hi, I have made this cake and it was great :) I need to make the banana version in a 12" pan - any tips on scaling it up?

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