Chocolate fudge cake with sticky chocolate icing and Easter loveliness
Easter simply wouldn’t be Easter without a chocolate Easter cake! Make in a traybake tin or in two round tins, says Miranda Gore Browne, slather on the thick fudgy icing and decorate with chocolate eggs, blossom, chicks and all sorts of Easter loveliness.
Ingredients
You will need
- 2 x 8-inch shallow round cake tins or a 30cm x 20cm traybake tin
- A jug
- A pan
- Large heatproof bowl
- A medium bowl
- Knife to spread the icing
- Non-stick baking paper
- Mini eggs and edible or sugar flowers – primroses, blossom etc for decoration
For the cake:
- 200g unsalted butter
- 225g dark chocolate
- 50ml water
- 200g light soft brown sugar
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 200g full fat crème fraiche
- 100g self-raising flour
- 30g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100g white chocolate chips or chocolate cut into chunks
For the chocolate fudge icing:
- 360g milk chocolate
- 280ml double cream
- 50g salted butter
- 3 tbsp caramel sauce
Method
- For the cake: Melt the butter, 50ml water and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
- In another bowl stir together the brown and caster sugars, flour, cocoa and baking powder.
- Beat the eggs in a jug and add the crème fraiche and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and line a traybake tin with non-stick baking paper.
- Pour the melted chocolate mixture over the flour and cocoa powder and stir well.
- Add the crème fraiche and egg mixture and mix until smooth and creamy. Add the white chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- Scrape into the prepared lined tin or tins and bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until firm to touch.
- For the chocolate fudge icing: break the chocolate into a large heatproof bowl and pour over the cream, put over a pan of gently simmering water.
- Stir the chocolate into the cream as it melts, then add the butter and lift off the heat. Add the caramel sauce and stir well.
- Set aside to cool and thicken at room temperature, this will take a few hours.
- Spread the icing over the cake and smooth to cover evenly.
- Decorate with chocolate eggs and spring flowers.