I’m back! (At long last, I might add.) Almost all of our boxes have been unpacked and I’m now the proud owner of a beautiful, shiney and safe(!!) gas cooker. The kitchen is still a bit of a mess, i.e. I can’t decide where anything should go. Hopefully I’ll get it sorted out soon so that I can do some baking again. I’m keen to test out some recipes on the gas oven…

The chocolate fudge cake shown above is one I made at the end of February for our friend Chris’ 29th birthday. I never got around to mentioning it at the time, but this is the absolute best chocolate fudge cake I’ve ever made or tasted! It went down a storm, with folks coming back for seconds… Apologies for the awful photo – I’m suspecting I was slightly tipsy when I took it! Its the best of a bad bunch, believe me!!

Unsurprisingly, the recipe for this chocoholics dream comes from Nigella Lawson. To be precise, her Nigella Bites book/series. I’m still a massive fan of her baking recipes. I’ve never been able to justify making this for just Dave and myself, but for a birthday cake it seemed entirely appropiate.

The recipe (below) does look a bit odd, but it really does work. (Don’t be alarmed if the butter/oil/water mixture thickens dramatically when you blend it together. All is not lost.) Its a very quick cake to make – a few minutes weighing and a few minutes mixing before chucking in the oven. I’d suggest testing the cakes after 45 minutes cooking – nothing is worse than an overcooked chocolate cake. Well, perhaps a burnt one. The cake on the top shelf of my oven was done by then, and the second one was done a couple of minutes later after I moved it up to the free shelf. Sometimes it does pay to be paranoid.

The chocolate frosting was an absolute doddle in the Kitchenaid. I can only imagine that it would be a hellish mess if done by hand (exhausting too). Happily, it spread really well over the cake. The cake itself didn’t crumble when the frosting was slathered over the sides which made for a good finished look.

I finished it off by piping Chris’ age in roman numerals over the top. Working with melted chocolate is a lot trickier than I had anticipated, but I think it looked okay in the end… In case you were wondering, the black flecks in the chocolate are vanilla seeds. I discovered Green & Black’s organic white chocolate with vanilla which is the yummiest white chocolate ever! It would make a great mousse.

As for the taste, scrumptious! The cake had a lovely dark, moist crumb – surprising in a cake which didn’t include any melted chocolate. The frosting was mindblowingly rich and smooth. Together, it was simply amazing… Now all I need is an excuse to make the cake for myself… I only had one slice!

Chocolate Fudge Cake – Nigella Bites, Nigella Lawson

Serves 10. Or 1 with a broken heart

For the cake:
400g plain flour
250g golden caster sugar
100g light muscovado sugar
50g best quality cocoa powder (I used Green & Black’s organic stuff)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
� tsp salt
3 eggs
142ml/small tub sour cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
125ml corn oil
300ml chilled water

For the fudge icing:
175g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids (I used Lindt)
250g unsalted butter, softened
275g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In another bowl or wide-necked measuring jug whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended.

Using a freestanding or handheld electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and corn oil until just blended (you�ll need another large bowl for this if using the hand whisk; the freestanding mixer comes with its own bowl), 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. And actually, you could easily do this manually; I just like my toys and find the KitchenAid a comforting presence in itself.

Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester 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.

To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave � 2-3 minutes on medium should do it � or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly. In another bowl, beat the butter until it’s soft and creamy (again, I use the KitchenAid here) and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything’s light and fluffy. I know sieving is a pain, the one job in the kitchen I really hate, but you have to do it or the icing will be unsoothingly lumpy. 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, too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula.