Chocolate Fudge Cake

One of my work colleagues asked me to make a cake for her and her family. Her kids love chocolate so I made Nigella's chocolate fudge cake with chocolate fudge icing. This cake is so rich and chocolatey, I almost couldn't give it away.

 Chocolate Fudge Cake

(adapted from Nigella Lawson)

400g plain flour

250g golden caster sugar

100g light brown muscovado sugar

50g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt

3 large eggs

142ml sour cream

1 tbsp vanilla extract

175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

125ml sunflower oil

300ml cold water

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter and line the bottom of two cake tins. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended. Beat together the melted butter and oil until just blended, then beat in the water. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

Chocoate Fudge Icing

(from Nigella Lawson)

175g dark chocolate (70%)

250g unsalted butter, softened
275g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in the microwave for approximately 2-3 minutes on medium. In another bowl beat the butter until it's soft and creamy and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy. Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth. 

Sandwich the middle of the cake with about a quarter of the icing, and then ice the top and sides. Decorate with grated white chocolate.