Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and many many happy returns of the DAY!!!!!!!!

I would like to personally thank everyone who has followed the donnowhat2cook blog till today and for many more years to come. I must say that it has been a fruitful 3 months despite me not having to blog that many times this month. But as a treat for most of you who know of my Chocolate Fudge Cake, here is the recipe. Due credit is given to Channel 4 Food for helping me find the perfect Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe.

The ingredients are (please take note that I have adjusted the recipe from the original to make it smoother):

110gms                   spreadable butter

250ml                      whole milk (truly, it tastes best when you use whole milk and not semi skimmed)

1 tbsp                      red wine vinegar

100 - 120 gms         plain / dark chocolate - melted

15 gms                    cocoa powder (here I used drinking chocolate) - sifted

300 gms                  self-raising flour - sifted

1 tsp                        bicarbonate of soda / baking powder - sifted

225 gms                  golden caster sugar

2                             medium eggs

Chocolate Ganache Recipe: Chocolate Ganache

Method:

1. Heat up the oven to 180 Degree Celcius / fan 160 / gas 4. Grease a 20cm round cake tin or line with baking paper. Alternative you may use cupcake trays and line with cupcake cups.
2. Stir vinegar into milk, leave aside. Next beat butter and sugar till creamy (this means the butter looks pale almost like gold as the sugar dissolves into the butter. Add in eggs one by one and continue beating. This process is quickened with an electronic mixer but I prefer to do it by hand.
3. Next add in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder that has been sifted earlier in portions and not at one go. Slowly mix whilst adding the milk mixture alongside the flour.
4. Finally add in the melted chocolate. Don't use milk chocolate as the colour will not come out as dark as you would like it to be plus the additional milk in the milk chocolate only tends to fade the colour more.
5. Once combined, spoon out on to desired baking tin and bake for about 50 minutes for the cake and about 25 minutes for the cupcakes. As cupcakes are in smaller portions the baking time does not need to be that much. Stick a toothpick into the centre of the cake to check whether some cake batter is still sticking or comes out clean. The latter means it is nice and fluffy and bouncy whilst the former means you'll have a gooey centre which is not a problem either. But if you are planning to make a layered cake, then a cleaner toothpick is much prefered.
6. Decorate with chocolate ganache by using an icing pipe or simply using a spoon. 

The beauty of this cake is that it is extremely flexible. Why? You can do it in many different shapes. So that it suits your taste.

So here is my Christmas gift to everyone. I hope you have a fun time trying it as I have had the joy of baking it many times :)

Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and Many Many Many Happy Returns of the Day.

In yuletide joy,

The Innovative Baker