“Chemically speaking, chocolate really is the world’s perfect food”- Michael Levine.
Baking basics ! If you like baking , a mud cake is definitely one you want to have in your repertoire.
A mud cake is essentially a dense chocolate cake with a tight crumb . Owing to this , it is a great option for building layered cakes and sturdy enough to carve . Also , it stays fresh and delicious for longer and freezes well. Very popular among cake artists.
Even if you are not a cake decorator , a mud cake is perfect for your tea tray or dessert table . Its darkly chocolatey and moist . A wedge of it goes a long way in satisfying any chocolate craving. And it doesn’t demand adornment or embellishment , although any chocolate frosting would be pure cacao Nirvana!
There is no standard recipe or way to make a mud cake. If you google it, you ‘ ll see how recipes and pictures vary wildly! Most recipes involve melting chocolate, mixing liquids and then adding dry ingredients . These cakes are generally baked at a low temperature for a longer time for that sturdy composition and also cooled in the pan for a while in order to avoid it from falling apart.
I like this recipe as the cake it yields has great structure and deep chocolate flavour. And it bakes up in reasonable time – some recipes i saw required baking for upto 2 hours! It is one of the most scrumptious chocolate cakes that I have eaten !
I have been through my share of chocolate cakes (more than any normal person should) and I got to say this mud cake is a keeper all the way. Moist , intense , rich and amazing! Chocolate exemplified !
I aint lying when I say I have been through my share of chocolate cakes . Wacky chocolate cake , tiny chocolate cake , Devil’s food cake , vegan chocolate cake , eggless chocolate snack cake , chocolate sponge cake … should I go on ???
Mud cake
Ingredients
- 170 grams or 3/4 cups unsalted butter
- 190 grams or 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 150 grams chocolate
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coffee
- 360 ml or 1 1/2 cups water hot
- 200 grams or 1 cups granulated sugar
- 2 Eggs , at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 C / 325 F.Grease and flour an 8 inch round pan well. Line the bottom with parchment (optional)
- Mix the coffee powder into the hot water. Keep aside.
- Whisk together the flour , baking soda and salt. Keep aside.
- Melt the butter and chocolate (chopped) together in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stovetop until smooth.
- Mix in the coffee and then the sugar into the chocolate-butter mixture.
- Whisk in the dry ingredients.
- Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until incorporated.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake at 160 C/ 325 F for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean and the top springs back lightly when touched.
- Cool in pan for 15 minutes and then invert out carefully to cool completely right side up on a wire rack.
Notes
- Store cling wrapped at room temperature for a day or chilled for 3 days .
- Cake can be frozen for 2 months .
- The batter is thin and will rise but not a lot.
- You can double the recipe
No cocoa powder? And can I use half of the recipe? If so then how much baking soda should be added?
Hi Pipli… no cocoa powder here. If halving the recipe, half the baking soda too!
Hello Akshata.. I’m baking this cake again for valentine’s. Husband prefers this over red velvet. How can I frost this? The last time we baked it was consumed as is . I have whipping cream handy.
Hi Ruby… if you guys like chocolate , some dark chocolate ganache would be fab . If you want to use your whipping cream , i would suggest you flavour it with melted chocolate , cocoa powder , mocha ( coffee plus cocoa powder) or Nutella.. I have a mocha mousse cake on the blog where you can see the way i made the mousse… Happy baking – let me know !
Thank you Akshata.. I will be baking this again.. my husband has fallen deeply in love with this. I just have one question. Can I use wwf? Any idea if this will turn out to be atleast close to the original taste?
I haven’t tried it Ruby… but if you do want to try, suggest substituting 1/4 of the flour with wwf first.. if it works, you can sub more!!
Thanks for replying Akshata.. I did try the cake.. the taste was out of the world.. exceptionally good.. but somehow it took close to an hour which was still ok.. the cake also crumbled a bit while taking out of the tin ..dunno where I went wrong there.. but that apart the taste is extraordinary and so so chocolatey..just the way we wanted it. I’ve just begun baking and I was elated to bake such a treat myself. Thanks a ton.
Hi Ruby ! thanks for leaving your thoughts ! Mud cake is sturdy when chilled , so let it cool completely and handle carefully or it may crumble… Ovens and pan depths vary so that could be the reason for the long baking time… I m glad you have started baking and i am sure you will grow to love it as much as I do. Hope other recipes from Flours and Frostings form a part of your baking journey! Happy baking !
Hi Akshata,
Can I use a 9 ” tin for this recipe? Also how much in weight does the recipe yield?
Hi Ruby ! Yes , you can use a 9 inch pan, the height of the cake will be lesser than the picture and you can start checking if your cake is done at 30 minutes. This recipe gives about 1 kg cake. If you try the cake, do let me know how you like it. Or don’t like it !
Hi. Most mud cake recipes have cold water mentioned but you’ve used hot water?
Hi Bansri.. I tried several recipes and this is what worked best for me.. the hot water infact makes the mixing easier..
Hi… can I know the measurements for 1 cup is equal to ?? Hw much in grams or ml
Hi Sukee… My one cup is 240 ml… For each ingredient , one cup differs in grams, for example one cup flour is 125 grams , one cup sugar is 200 grams etc..
Hi. No baking powder in this. You have mentioned only baking soda.
Hi Radhika …its not a mistake , this particular cake needs only baking soda 🙂
How can I make buttersctoch cake without egg
I haven’t tried an egg less version of this Susovan… Sorry ☺
Hi can I use couverture chocolate???
Yes you can Suman… anything above 52 %…. Happy baking!
This sounds easy, and delicious. I have a doubt in measurements. All purpose floure is 190 gms or 1 1/2 cups. While sugar is 200 gms or 1 cup. Is there a typo? Should it be 2 cups?
Hi Nirja.. sugar is heavier than flour so one cup of it weighs a lot more. Stick to either cup measurements or weight, and u will b good..
Ok, thanks!
Hey I tried d recipe… I hd a cracked top… where did I go wrong?
Hi Juweriya… ovens differ in heat , and your oven might run hotter than it seems. Also , did you use the same size pan? If you try it again , bake at 20 C lesser or in a larger pan. Hope this helps… 🙂
Replacement of eggs in this recipe please
Hi Reema..sorry , haven’t tried this cake without the eggs 🙁
No coffee in chocolate cake. Ever. I know it’s done, but I say it’s foolhardy. Why ruin a good thing. I have tried it. Never again.
I quite like the combination of chocolate and coffee. And in cakes like these, you can barely taste the coffee, just the depth of flavour . But to each their own. You can skip the coffee if you don’t like it 🙂
Hi Akshata thanks once again for an amazing recipe.Do you think this would this work as a pinata cake or under fondant?
Thanks Ambika ! Yes , once chilled , this cake is great for carving and is sturdy enough to drape with fondant!
This cake recipe is soooo good Akshatha!! I’m a big fan of all your recipes, but this one does take the cake! All I can say is oh man!!! Is it good or is it goooood!!!!
Thanks so much Garima !! Great to hear such amazing feedback !
Thanks so much Garima… Great to hear such amazing feedback !!!
hi dear..awesome receipe…want to try soon..wat kind of frosting n filling will go well with this mud cake…plz suggedt
Thanks so much Rajani !!! Any frosting would go well with this. if you are a chocolate cake , try ganache for a decadent truffle cake or a chocolate whipped cream. A coffee or nutella flavoured buttercream would also go fab !
Thats good to know Aarti ! Do let me know how it turns out!
Thanks Vineta !!! Such good feedback is always a pleasure …!