Hot Chocolate Fudge Cake

• servings: 10 servings
• total time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup plain/all-purpose flour (Note 2)

1/3 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened, sifted, Note 130g)

3/4 tsp baking powder (Note 2)

3/4 tsp baking soda/bi-carb (sifted if lumpy, Note 2)

1 cup caster/superfine sugar (sub ordinary white sugar)

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk (, full fat, at room temperature)

75g / 5 tbsp unsalted butter (, melted and cooled slightly)

1 tbsp oil (canola, veg or other neutral oil - keeps cake moist for days)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup thickened / heavy cream, or pure cream (not low fat, too thin)

1 1/4 cups dark chocolate melts or chips (US: semi-sweet chips - or finely chopped 60 - 70% cocoa chocolate block, Note 3)

Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). Grease a 20cm/8" cake pan with butter then line with paper.

Whisk Dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add Wet - Then add all the Wet ingredients EXCEPT the boiling water. Whisk until combined. Then add the boiling water and whisk until smooth. The batter will be pretty thin.

Bake 40 min - Pour into the pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean - a faint smear of batter isn't a bad thing, we're making a fudge cake here!

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a plate, then onto a cooling rack or plate right side up. Cool for a further 10 minutes - the cake will still be warm for serving.

Serving - Cut slices of the warm cake. Top with a scoop of ice cream. Douse with fudge sauce - just shy of 1/4 cup per slice (10 slices). Eat and swoon!

Chocolate fudge sauce (makes 2 cups):

Heat cream until hot, just before boiling point, using your method of choice - saucepan or microwave.

Stand 5 min - Put chocolate in bowl. Pour over hot cream. Ensure all chocolate is submerged, then cover with a plate. Leave for 5 minutes.

Mix - Using a whisk or rubber spatula, mix vigorously until the cream and chocolate combine into a silky chocolate sauce.

Cool to thicken for 20 minutes. Give it a stir then pour into a jug for serving!

Nutrition

• Calories: 421 kcal
• Total Fat: 26 g
• Saturated Fat: 15 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 9 g
• Trans Fat: 0.3 g
• Cholesterol: 62 mg
• Sodium: 163 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 44 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3 g
• Total Sugars: 30 g
• Protein: 5 g