Chocolate Fudge Cake

So I've been on a hiatus for like a really long time. I guess work got the better of me.. and I grew lazy. It didn't help that I hurt my back earlier this year and ended up crafting a lot. 

Miniatures have amazed me and opened brand new doors for me (: I started Cynthia's Miniatures too. 

The house has been really messy too (Guess we got too lazy and busy)... Just 2 weekends ago, we cleaned the guest room, gave away our sofa bed and it's now specially for crafting.. and lazing (: It's got tons of pillows and it's Cartoon's land of many pillows XD

So the kitchen did get cleaned too.. with that, I decided to bake this cake that has been on my list for the longest time ever. This Chocolate Fudge Cake was shared by a friend who took it from 8 days magazine. I added my twist to it by adding some hazelnut paste and changing some parts of the method.

It's a delicious fudge cake that's just sweet enough without being sickening. The cake is light and fluffy while the fudge lends a sweet touch to it. It was really well received by my friends and colleagues! 

So here's the recipe for the Chocolate Fudge Cake. It'd take about 3-4 hours to bake and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe

This recipe yields a 12 by 6" cake

85g top flour

170g Bake King Optima sponge cake flour mix

85g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

8 egg yolks (55-60g each)

100g castor sugar

150ml unflavoured oil

150ml water

2 tbsp chocolate emulco

8 egg whites (55-60g each)

100g castor sugar

3 cups water

6 tbsp hun kwee flour (green bean flour)

110g castor sugar

130g couverture chocolate

4 1/2 tsp gelatin

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp hazelnut paste

Method

Sift dry ingredients

Sift and set aside

Separate egg yolks from whites.. I love my new glass mixing bowl!

Have yolks, castor sugar, oil, water and chocolate emulco in mixing bowl

Whisk till light and fluffy. 

(You may also mix the yolk and sugar till light and fluffy before adding the other ingredients in to whisk lightly)

Add dry sifted ingredients and mix briefly on low speed, enough to combine the flour into the mixture

Nice and thick!

Add castor sugar to egg whites and whisk to stiff peaks. 

(You may also whisk whites till frothy before gradually adding sugar..)

Stiff peaks!

Add 1/3 of the meringue to the cake mixture

Fold in meringue to loosen batter

Add remaining meringue and fold well

The batter is lovely! 

Pour batter into a 12" baking tin that's been lined at the bottom

Tap the baking tin gently on the counter top to release air bubbles

Bake in a preheated oven of 160 degree Celsius for 30 - 45 minutes or till the cake bounces back when pressed gently.. that or a toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the cake when poked into the middle of the cake

Leave cake in baking tin for 5 minutes before scraping the sides of the cake with a metal spatula and removing the cake gently. Allow it to cool completely on a cooling rack. I used a baking tin with removable base

While the cake is cooling down, have a small portion of the 3 cups of water (measuring cup portion) in a bowl and add the hun kwee flour

Stir well

Have all the fudge ingredients in a cooking pan/pot and bring to a boil while constantly stirring

When mixture comes to a boil, add hun kwee flour mixture

Stir well and cook till mixture becomes fudgey

Transfer fudge to another bowl and surface wrap to prevent a skin from forming

Allow fudge to cool completely (this takes quite a while)

Slice cake into 2 and peel off the skin gently 

You may slice the cake into 2 layers (yielding 4 layers in all but I was too lazy)

Create a mixture of sugar and water (1:1) and drizzle/spray over cake to keep it moist

Spread fudge between layers of cake

Cover with 2nd layer of cake

Frost the cake and pop into freezer for 20 minutes to set before transferring to the refrigerator to chill for another 2 hours before enjoying

I piped some simple 'balls' of fudge and sprinkled the cake with Valrhona crunchy balls (sadly, I kept them for too long and they softened.. boo hoo!)

Enjoy the cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!