Ultimate Chocolate Fudge Cake with Honeycomb

This weekend we've had Ollie, our grandson and his parents come to stay a couple of days. I truly enjoy weekends like this when I get to spend quality time with Ollie and we have lots of cuddles and fun together. I'd forgotten how early babies wake up and Ollie had us all up at 5.30am but it's a small price to pay once a week and nothing can beat an early morning cuddle in bed! I love baking for my family and I decided to bake this chocolate cake from one of my latest cookbooks, Weekend Baking. Also my son and his girlfriend definitely prefer my chocolate bakes and I enjoy any excuse to bake a special cake.
The sponge is deliciously light with a perfectly balanced chocolate infusion, covered with a decadent chocolate fudge icing and finally topped with a generous sprinkling of honeycomb chunks. You can make your own honeycomb but I took the easy option and used a Crunchie bar. Not surprisingly, at the end of the two day visit we were left with one large slice remaining!



Ultimate Chocolate Fudge Cake with Honeycomb

Serves 8

Ingredients
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp boiling water
225g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
200g butter, softened
250g light muscovado or light brown soft sugar
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Chocolate fudge icing:
200g dark chocolate (about 50% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
175g creme fraiche
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Chocolate Crunchie Bar, chopped into chunks

Two 20cm/8 inch sandwich tins, 4cm deep, lightly buttered and base-lined with baking parchment.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4.

Dissolve the cocoa in the boiling water, then leave to cool. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.

Put the butter and sugar in an electric mixer and beat for 3-4 minutes, or until smooth and fluffy. Mix in the creme fraiche, vanilla extract and the cooled, dissolved cocoa. With the mixer running a slow speed, add the beaten eggs and sifted flour mixture alternatively to the bowl.

Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and spread it evenly with a spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 25.30 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tins for 30 minutes. Tip out onto a wire rack and peel off the base papers. Leave to cool completely.

To make the chocolate fudge icing, put all the ingredients in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and leave until smooth and glossy, stirring now and then. Take the bowl off the pan and leave to cool.

To assemble, place one cake on a board or large serving plate and spread about a third of the chocolate fudge icing over the top. Place the other cake on top and coat entirely in the rest of the icing. Chop up the chocolate honeycomb into small chunks and sprinkle on top of the cake - any leftovers are a cook's perk!