I know I said that I would be trying a white chocolate and hazelnut mud cake after making my first white chocolate mud cake, although I saw this recipe and thought it sounded so fun and would be perfect for my turn baking for our work meeting.

I love anything honeycomb and chocolate so combining this into a cake sounded great and the ganache on top looked lovely and fluffy, even though it doesn’t contain any icing sugar. Due to time restrictions I had to make the cake two nights before the meeting, the ganache the night before and I chopped up the remaining violet crumble just before the meeting so it didn’t soften or go sticky due to moisture.

Unfortunately I only have photos of the two remaining slices that I had to hide away so Nick could try the cake (as he had been tempted by it during the baking as it smelled gorgeous and the ganache was beautiful and looked like ivory silk – although stiffened up slightly with time), This means the Violet Crumble was a little sticky and melted. The Violet crumble throughout the cake was not very evident, although the pieces which were at the top of the cake while cooking formed a lovely caramelised tasty top to the cake. I would definitely make this again (and already have), I’ve even added a little more Violet Crumble in the cake mixture… 😛

We had to tweak the ganache slightly as I tried to whisk gently the cooled chocolate and cream mixture and it did nothing. It was still very runny. After adding 2-3 tablespoons cold thickened cream (or letting it cool for a lot longer than the recommended time) and beating the mix with a hand mixer, scraping the sides a few times (I found this rest helped it thickened faster) it changed to a light and fluffy ganache.

White Chocolate and Honeycomb Mud Cake
(Recipe adapted from super food ideas May 2009)

180g white chocolate, chopped
250g butter, chopped
1 cup milk
1¾ cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence/extract
1¾ cup plain flour, sifted
½ cup self raising flour, sifted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1-2 x 50g Violet Crumble bars

White Chocolate Ganache
180g white chocolate
1/3 cup thickened cream
+ 2-3 tablespoons cold cream extra
1 x 50g Violet Crumble bars, chopped just before serving

Stir white chocolate, butter, milk, sugar and vanilla essence in a saucepan over low-medium heat until melted and smooth.

Pour into a large bowl and leave to cool for 25 minutes. Preheat oven to 160C or 140C fan forced. Grease and line a 20-22cm round tin with baking paper.

Add eggs and sifted flours and whisk to combine. Fold through Violet Crumble. Pour into prepared tin and cook for 1½ -2 hours or until skewer combs out with clean or with a few crumbs. If the cake starts to brown too much, cover loosely with a piece of foil.

Remove from oven when cooked and rest in tin for 10 minutes. Allow to finish cooling on cooling rack.

To make the ganache, put the white chocolate and cream in a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minutes, stirring half way through. Stir until smooth. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Using an electric beater, beat the white chocolate mix for 2-3 minutes. Add extra cream to help cool down the mix and help it thicken easier. Beat on high for 2 minutes at a time, scrapping and observing the texture. Once it is nice and thick cover the cooled cake with the ganache.

Just before serving, chop up the remaining Violet Crumble and scatter over cake. Serve.

Ever since trying the first white chocolate hazelnut mud cake muffin as a potential for our wedding cake I have thought and thought about trying to get a great recipe.

First off, I decided to trial out a White Chocolate Mud cake without the hazelnuts (although I hope to add ground hazelnuts to the next one I try). I found this recipe on a website which gives great variations for the recipe, from dark chocolate to white chocolate, caramel and chocolate with hazelnut mud cakes.

I decided to make this cake as a thank you to those at work for their lovely present and well-wishes for my Wedding (yes, a long-ish time ago now). The cake is lovely and moist, with beautiful subtle flavours. The combination of the glaze with the cake worked wonderfully.

I had to cook the cake for a lot longer than the recipe stated and as I didn’t have a solid round tin, I had to use a springform tin instead, with a tray underneath to catch drips. The glaze didn’t turn out exactly how I had hoped, as it was a little too runny – I’m not sure if it’s because I didn’t let it cool enough. I had made slightly less glaze (due to a shortage of cream in the house) in case anyone was wondering why I didn’t have enough to fully cover the cake.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and I’ll try and keep you updated with my next trial/s. 🙂

White Chocolate Mud Cake
(Recipe by kel11 on HubPages)

350g white chocolate pieces
225g butter
600ml water
3 eggs
400g (almost 2 cups) castor sugar
400g (2 ¾ cups) self-raising flour

Chocolate Glaze
225g chocolate pieces
165ml double or whipping cream

Grease and line a 23cm/ 9” round cake tin (use a non-spring-tin as it will probably leak a little). Preheat oven to 170ºC, 150ºC fan forced.

In a saucepan over low heat, heat chocolate, butter and water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

White chocolate, butter and water melted

In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Gradually beat cooled chocolate mixture into eggs. Whisk sugar and flour into chocolate mixture, continue until smooth and well blended.

Pour mixture into cake tin. Cake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Turn cake onto wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Glaze
In a saucepan over low heat, heat chocolate and cream, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Keep warm.

Once cake is cooled, you can cut the cake into layers and spread a truffle mixture through – see the original recipe.

Place the cake on wire rack and pour warm glaze over the top. With a palette knife spread glaze to cover top and size evenly.