Because who doesn't love chocolate?! (recipe alert!)

Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate.......anyone got any cravings now? Good, if you just wait a moment, I'll publish my trusty chocolate mud cake recipe and you can have a bake and satiate those cravings - trust me, it'll work a charm.

Firstly some fun facts about chocolate cake:

Any baking with chocolate powder (aka cocoa, der!) became possible in 1764 because of a guy who should've been made king of the world: James Baker. I kid you not, his name was Baker. Fitting, yes? He apparently accidentally discovered you could press cacao beans and the resulting powder was pretty useful <-- the TRUE meaning of 'happy accident'. We all salute you, Mr Baker.

The term 'chocolate cake' referred to yellow or white cakes meant to accompany a chocolate beverage, or yellow/white cakes with chocolate icing long before it meant what we know to be chocolate cake today.

Champagne & sparkling wine are generally too acidic to be enjoyed with chocolate - settle in with a glass of red for your perfect chocolate-cakey companion (must remember this at the next wedding I attend - Simmo you'd better have red wine available!)

German chocolate cake was named after Sam German who was American.

Dark chocolate may be beneficial to your health, but don't grab your nearest chunk and scoff away just yet - it's only beneficial if cacao or chocolate liquor is the first ingredient listed, not sugar. 

This one's not about cake, just chocolate - in WWII the Germans developed a small chocolate-coated bomb, designed to detonate when the first piece was broken off. Eep!

Ok enough of that, onto the real stuff! It's possible I may get excommunicated from the cake community for sharing my precious recipe for the world to see, but I can't keep something this basic, easy and delicious all to myself! Besides, you guys'll be my friends if they desert me, won't ya?

I honestly cannot remember where I got the original version of this recipe from, I have used it for so long. Over the years, I've made tweaks here and there that seem to work for me and you should do the same - it's a basic mud cake recipe and can withstand some mucking around! See below the recipe for my personal hints :)

Chocolate Mud Cake

226g (1 cup) unsalted butter 

375g good quality dark chocolate

600ml water

3 eggs

400g self raising flour

400g castor sugar

1. Preheat oven to 170C (338F) and grease and line a 22cm round tin.
2. Place butter, chocolate & water in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 40 seconds at a time, stirring after each time, until mixture is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes.
3. Beat eggs together on medium speed (Kitchenaid 4).
4. Add cooled chocolate mixture to eggs and beat on medium speed (KA 4).
5. Add flour and sugar to mixture and stir to combine (KA 2) then beat on medium speed (KA 4-6) until smooth.
6. Pour into prepared tin and tap on bench to remove air bubbles. 
7. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a cake tester (or wooden skewer) comes out clean (moist crumbs will attach, even if fully cooked).

From this last point, it's up to you what you do with it - chocolate ganache is amazing on this cake, but buttercream or runny icing would work just as well. We often eat scraps as they are, they are AMAZING warmed up!

Right, so hints and tips!

- I'm a lazy person but I had to kick myself out of that for this recipe - don't take shortcuts! Make sure you both grease AND line the tin (unless you want a huge dud batch of that nice warm cake to eat yourself...mmm).

- I do remember that the original recipe called for old-school melting of the butter, chocolate & water together in a saucepan on the stove - feel free to do this, I've just found that microwaving has no effect on the taste or consistency of the final product, and you can do other things while it is in the microwave!

- Give the chocolate mixture a good stir just before adding to the eggs - it will have settled and started to separate while cooling.

- I like to whisk the flour and sugar together before adding to the mixture - it makes sense to have them combined, right?

- The time required for baking will most definitely not be exactly 40 or 50 minutes. It will depend on your oven and the size of your tin. This recipe makes a large quantity, enough for two 22cm round tins.
- From a country that doesn't use the metric system? I use this online converter ALL THE TIME for cooking conversions :)

- If you're after something a little different to regular chocolate mud cake - have a play! Most of the time you can use a creative frosting/filling and that's enough. However, the possibilities for variations are endless! Here are some that I've tried.

It goes without saying that for white choc mud you simply substitute the dark choc for white choc (extra hint: when microwaving white chocolate, use 20-30 second bursts to avoid burning). 

A really yummy jaffa cake can be made by using orange juice instead of water and a good orange dark chocolate instead of regular dark chocolate (like Lindt Orange Intense). 

The same principle applies to a choc mint cake - use a good minted dark chocolate. 

I've made a mixed berry white chocolate cake by using the above substitution plus 200g mixed berries. How did I know how many berries to put in, you ask? The answer is: I didn't. I played around with it until I was happy.

For the caffeine-addicted, a shot or two of espresso in the water goes a long way to a delish mocha cake.

Let me know if you have any questions or queries, I'm happy to help. If you have a go at this recipe, share some pictures and let us all know how you went :)

Alrighty then! Get baking!! Hope you enjoy this morsel of chocolatey goodness,

Nadia x

Naked granny cakes!!

Oh, um, hi again! You may be slightly confused about the title of this post...let me shed some light - naked cakes: cakes without traditional thick icing or frosting, even without any frosting at all. I had real trouble explaining this to people 6 months ago when planning a wedding cake buffet. People would nod along but you know how you can see it in someone's face when they think they're doing really well hiding their smirk?? Yeah. I saw alot of that. 

Truth is, naked cakes as a trend are brand new to little old Tassie, and really, as far as I can tell, all of Australia. I've only seen them prolifically (hopefully that's an actual word) on Google and in European & US wedding magazines & blogs. This is why, when Kate at Pure Bride saw a picture of one of my naked cakes for a friend's wedding, she wanted to track me down. Pure Bride are all about bringing new exciting stuff to Tasmanian weddings, getting them out of this traditional rut we've been happily existing in. This is where the 'granny' part comes in - Kate loved the idea of this lemon yogurt cake as it reminded her of cakes her grandmother made - and she suggested marketing them as granny cakes. She thinks Tassie is ready for naked cakes - and now so do we at LoveCake!!

 The naked cake we had on display at the expo was a real hit, too. Obviously when I was explaining to those others last year, I should've carried one around with me and let it do the talking! I love that people can see the rustic beauty in it, and let's face it - at least half the population hates fondant and picks it off - why waste good money on that?! (and from my perspective - a naked cake takes literally hours less than a fondant-covered cake)

Honestly, I haven't got a whole lot more to say about these cakes, but I do have a TON of pretty pictures for you to see! I love love LOVE some of the flower arrangements on these cakes - they make me wish you could just have a cake sitting on your coffee table with fresh flowers, you know...just for show, part of the room decor! ;)

(that last one - anyone else suddenly craving Oreos?? No? Just me?) Ok - that's all from me this time folks, got a fun Up-inspired engagement cake to finish!

Cheerio!

Nadia x