I’ve pulled out the doughnut mud cake again for a very special friend. It just has to make another appearance because it is my take on a certain kind of heaven and is just litty. This bad boy is 4 layers of chocolate mud with salted caramel in between. It’s not a masterpiece that’s for sure, the cake aesthetic isn’t my jam but I tell you what, it’s as moist as an otter’s pocket. The doughnuts on top are just a kids dream and did I say salted caramel drizzle…
This recipe makes a large 4 layer cake. I have halved the recipe before and made a smaller version which was also great!
Ingredients:
-3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
-1 1/2 cups cocoa
-3 cups of white sugar
-3 tsp of baking soda
– 1 tsp salt
-2 tbsp of vanilla essence or extract if you rich AF
-2 cups of boiling water with 4 tsp of instant coffee dissolved. Surely you are sold with the mention of chocolate and coffee by now
-4 eggs
-1 cup of melted butter.
-2 cups of buttermilk or make your own with some white vinegar and milk as shown below.
Icing:
-3 cups of icing sugar
-3/4 cup of cocoa
-2 tbsp of soft or melted butter
-Dash of hot water or milk.
1)Preheat your oven at 170 degrees.
2)Line your desired cake tins with baking paper (if you want to do four layers you could bake two at a time or could bake two full cakes and cut later)
3)Make your buttermilk if not store bought. Take 2 Tbsp of white vinegar and add to 2 cups of milk. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, you will visually see it curdling like ya tum after a night on the zambuccas, bare with.
4)Chuck the billy on. Or boil the jug. Add 4 teaspoons of instant coffee to 2 cups of boiling water to dissolve.
5) In a very large bowl or a standing mixer add in all the things. We are talking flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt. No need to sieve this ain’t masterchef.
6)Whip those eggs into your butter milk and vanilla essence and into the floury mixture it goes.
7)Pour in your hot coffee and mix carefully because its going to be a huge bowl of runny swamp at this point. Trust me, trust me. Once that runny mixture is fully mixed pour evenly into your baking tins however you wish to run it.
8) Bake for around half an hour or until you can insert a toothpick and it come out clean. Watch those puppies though, don’t over cook them. There is nothing worse than a cake that is as dry as an arab’s sandal.
9)To ice the layers you can choose a chocolate icing or a ganache. My favourite is the thin slither of choc icing followed by some salted caramel drizzle. See below.
10)The doughnuts are not my masterpiece they are just the boxed ‘Edmonds’ ones which go well in the little paddy pans. Super easy to make!
Salted caramel:
1)On the stove top in a pot add 50grams of butter, 3/4-1cup of brown sugar, 2 tsp of vanilla essence, 1 Tbsp of salt, and 160ml of cream.
2)Simmer this and try as you go. I always end up adding more salt to make it more salted caramel!
3)Keep simmering the crap out of it until its thickening. Once it starts to cool it will go harder so you only have a little time to work with it on the cake. So I suggest making it once the cake is assembled and the doughnuts are in position.