Belgian Double Chocolate Cake ( with Fudge Icing)

Recipe is inspired from here

Ingredients

180 gm flour ( 1 1/2 cups)

60gm cocoa powder (1/2 cup)

125gm butter ( about 3/4 cup)

125gm sugar ( I used almost 1 cup)

3 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

three quarter cup milk (3/4 cup)

2 tsp vanilla essence

75 gm chopped chocolate (i used dark chocolate)

3 tbsp chopped walnuts ( one can use hazelnuts too)

Some walnuts for sprinkling on top.

Method.

1.Grease and line an 8 or 9 inch baking pan. I used a heart shaped cake tin and lined it with baking paper. One can line with a foil and grease it and sprinkle some cocoa/ flour on it too.

2.Cream butter with sugar, then add eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated. Or else one can cream them using a electric mixer to save time.

3.Sieve flour with cocoa, salt ( if unsalted butter), vanilla essence and baking powder. Gradually add flour and milk in three instalments, mixing until just incorporated, do not over mix. Add the chopped chocolate and nuts.

TIP: Dust the nuts and chopped chocolate in some flour before adding them to the batter. This will help prevent them from sinking during baking.

4. Fold gently and pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 C for about 30minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool then either frost with chocolate ganache or lightly dust some icing sugar. I frosted it with Fudge Icing

Recipe (to cover an 8" cake)

2 tbsp margarine/butter

8 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

half tsp vanilla essence

some milk

Heat the margarine until it melts, keep the heat on low.

Sieve the icing sugar with the cocoa together, then add this into the melted margarine.

Stir together, then slowly add milk a teaspoon at a time. You will need about 5-8 tsp so just have a bowl of milk next to you and keep adding and stirring until you reach a smooth consistency.

The icing will thicken as it cools so keep it a bit thinner than what you want the final results to look like. Add the vanilla and turn off the heat, immediately ice your cake and sprinkle crushed nuts or cake crumbs. Give it a few minutes to set, and serve!! :)

Note: cakes crack due to overheating so keep temperature less if your cake cracks....also bake in the middle shelf to avoid burnt crusts.