Nienies Mud Cake Magnifique
How does one go about making the PERFECT chocolate cake? I’d never done it before, and therefore went about it quite deliberately. I consulted cookbooks and cooking websites. Call friends. Window-shopped the pastry sections of my favorite bakeries. The perfect chocolate cake, I decided, (and one inspired by someone so delectably adorable) had to be simple. No frufru decor or garnish. It should be easy enough to whip up for grilled-pizza Friday’s, but elegant enough to entertain at a garden party lit by candles hanging from trees tucked in baby food jars. It didn’t come out right the first time, a bungled mess of brownie-like bits. It didn’t work the second time. However, as it is with many worthy endeavors, a lot of tinkering and winkering was ultimately worth the price of patience. Nie’s Mud Cake is everything Nie is: divinely beautiful inside and out.
Ingredients
- 8 oz. unsweetened chocolate 8 squares
- ¾ c. olive oil
- 2 c. sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ c. cocoa powder
- 1 c. flour
- 1 c. buttermilk
- 1 tsp. baking powder*
- ½ tsp. baking soda
Mascarpone Mousse:
- 1 c. whipping cream
- ¼ c. sugar
- 1 c. 60% Bittersweet cacao chips
- 8 oz. mascarpone
Bittercream Frosting:
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 11.5 oz. 60% Bittersweet cacao chips
- ½ c. butter
- 4-5 c. powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a microwave, melt squares of chocolate with olive oil.
- Once melted, beat until smooth then add sugars and egg. Beat again until well creamed. Add remaining ingredients.
- Beat just until all ingredients are incorporated. (If you are baking BELOW 5000 feet altitude, double baking powder and add an additional 1/2 cup of flour).
- Pour batter into two 9-inch cake pans that have been generously greased & dusted with cocoa powder.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 26-28 minutes, or just until center of cake springs back to the touch.
- Remove from oven. Allow to cool before inverting on a cooling rack and removing from pan.
- Before layering cake, use a knife to gently cut away any uneven parts at the top or sides of the cake. You’ll want a nice, even surface to begin with in order to have your finished product look amazing.
Mascarpone Mousse:
- In a large bowl, whip whipping cream until fluffly.
- Add sugar & mascarpone and whip until smooth.
- In a small bowl, melt chocolate chips in microwave, stirring every thirty seconds until smooth.
- Chocolate should not be warm to the touch, if it is, allow it to cool just slightly before spooning the melted chocolate into the whipping cream mixture & beating until light and fluffy.
- Spoon carefully atop one layer of cake. Spread evenly, then top with the second layer of cake.
- Refrigerate until ready to frost.
Bittercream Frosting:
- In a medium saucepan, melt chocolate chips and heavy cream until a thick, smooth ganache forms, to keep the mixture from burning, stir constantly. Put in fridge until chilled.
- Remove from fridgidaire and beat in butter & powdered sugar until frosting is a spreadable consistency. Frost. Chill cake.
- To serve, remove from fridge 10-15 minutes before serving