Chocolate Fudge Cake

Ingredients:
FOR THE CAKE:
400g plain flour
250g golden caster sugar
100g light muscovado sugar
50g best quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
125ml corn oil
300ml chilled water
3 eggs
142ml/small tub sour cream
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

FOR THE FUDGE ICING:
175g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
250g unsalted butter, softened
275g icing sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Serving Size : Serves 10. Or 1 with a broken heart.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt.
4. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended.
5. Beat together the melted butter and corn oil until just blended, then beat in the water.
6. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed.
7. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins.
8. Bake the cakes for 50–55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.
9. To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave (2–3 minutes on medium) or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.
10. In another bowl beat the butter until it’s soft and creamy and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything’s light and fluffy. Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth.
11. Sandwich the middle of the cake with about a quarter of the icing, and then ice the top and sides too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula.