Hot chocolate fudge cake

Wow I think I hit a nerve with my previous post epiphanies. All those who wrote in with their opinions, good for you. I completely salute all you ladies out there who can get a frosting to stay as frosting and substitute ingredients with what's available, in India. But I love my convenience way too much than baking or cooking to oversee it, so I am gonna stick to what I said. 

Since that's out of the way, I shall get down to discussing my favourite subject, the weather. It finally feels like winter in London. Temperatures have gone down to 0 and although there is still no sign of snow, it does get a bit frosty in the mornings. I have always dreaded February (not just because I turn a year older), its the coldest, dreariest month, I feel. 

But the good thing is, I have discovered the benefits of drinking green tea. I mean I have tried it a couple of times in restaurants, but never really liked it, because, lets face, it has absolutely no taste. But then Twinings (the really popular tea brand) came out with their new Green Tea varieties like lemon, ginger, mint etc. and now I'm hooked. I was always a sucker for anything with lemon in it and oh to sip on it in this cold is absolutely soothing. Of course, the benefits like losing weight, reduced risk of heart disease, delaying signs of ageing (ooooh I like that one) are all added advantages, and if sipping on some delicious flavours of green tea is going to help me, why fight it right? So without wasting time, head on over to the Twinings Tea Shop and buy green tea to keep you going this winter.

Coming to the recipe, this ones from my mother-in-law. For a chocolate hater like me, this pudding-like cake did wonders. And by that I mean, I could manage to eat a cup full, that's it. Mamma made it last year when we were in India for her chocolate obsessed son, but guess who enjoyed it more?- the daughter-in-law. The thing is, I enjoyed it way too much to not touch it for one whole year. I binge eat anything I like and then end up hating it with a vengeance. This recipe was jotted down and brought back with the hope of making it to my blog in 2011, but the thought of all that gooey chocolate put me off. Its only today that I had this craving for something warm (trust me, a brioche bread pudding topped the list), and since the ingredients for this chocolate fudge cake was readily available, I went ahead with it.

The technique and recipe is much different from the usual fudge cake and the outcome, absolutely marvellous. The batter layer rises to the top forming a cakey layer and then you dig into it to get the gooey topping which sinks to the bottom. You can either make it in a single casserole dish or in individual ramekins or mugs/cups and be more concerned about how it looks than tastes (like me). I had picked up a lot of prop for the blog from India and now I have this block when it comes to styling and photography. After 1 week there is some sun out here and I ended up with unattractive pictures. So till I get the photography mojo back, you will have to do with bleak, non-creative pictures. Enjoy!

For the cake:

Flour- 1 cup

Baking powder- 2 tsp

Granulated sugar- 2/3rd cup

Cocoa powder- 2 tbsp

Salt- 1 tsp

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Milk- 1/2 cup

Oil- 2 tbsp

For the topping

Dark brown sugar- 1 cup

Cocoa powder- 1/4 cup

Boiling water- 1 3/4 cup

Whisk together all the dry ingredients for the cake in a large mixing bowl.

In another smaller bowl, stir together the vanilla, milk, and oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine. No traces of flour should be seen. I did this with a wire whisk. Beater is unnecessary.

Grease the dish you are using and pour the batter into it. If using individual ramekins/ cups, then fill each of it till about half full. Keep aside. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200C

Prepare the topping by mixing together the brown sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl.

Sprinkle this mixture over the cake batter as evenly as possible.

Then using the back of a spoon, slowly pour the boiling water over the batter. Do the same with all the ramekins till they are about 3/4th full.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150C and place the bowls inside.

Bake for 30 minutes. Do not over do it.

Take them out, keep aside to cool for a while and either dig in, or once they are completely cool, refrigerate for further use.

Notes: I halved the recipe and got 4 mugs of pudding

The topping procedure mentioned above sounded a bit complicated to me and so mamma gave me an alternative. After you mix the brown sugar and cocoa powder, add a tbsp of hot water to it and mix it till you get a paste-like consistency. Into this add the boiling water slowly using the back of a spoon and mix it all in, Finally, use this mix to then pour on top of the cake batter. That way everything is evenly mixed and you have more control over how much to add in each ramekin.

Since brown sugar is not readily available in Kerala, mamma substitutes it with 3/4th cup of sharkara paani (jaggery syrup) or a cup of jaggery. If using the syrup, make sure you use 2 cups of boiling water instead on 1 3/4.

Add an oz of rum or brandy to the topping and it would be yummm.