This Dense Chocolate Muscovado Cake is obscenely easy, quick and incredibly versatile. Unfussy and gooey but not too rich or overwhelming, it's perfect for a simple birthday cake or a make ahead dessert and can be adapted to make a fancier layer cake or traybake.
Preheat the oven to 180c fan | 200c | 390f or equivalent and put a kettle of water on to boil.
Line a 23cm/9in cake tin.
Weigh 250g Salted Butter and 375g Dark Brown Muscovado Sugar directly into a stand mixer bowl. Mix until well combined but don't whip the mixture - its doesn't want to be overly airy or fully creamed.
Add 2 Eggsto the bowl and whizz again until combined. Use a spatula to wipe down the sides of the bowl.
Break 250g Dark Chocolateup into a small bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until fully melted. (Use a small pan on the hob if you have no microwave).
Add the now melted chocolate to the butter/sugar/egg mix and again mix until fully combined.
Measure 250ml Boiling Water from the kettle into a small jug. Also weigh 200g Plain Flour and 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda into the now empty chocolate melting bowl.
Add the water and flour to the cake batter about 1/3 of each at a time. Make sure it is fully combined.
The batter will be very wet. Don't panic.
Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 30 minutes (less for muffins and more for a layer cake or smaller but deeper tin. If you aren't a fan of gooey, then bake it a little longer. If you're barely disguising a love of cake batter, bake for a little bit less.)
Leave the cake to cool and remove from the tin. It is quite a delicate cake so take care.
Use a tea strainer sieve and cover the cake with 1 tsp Cocoa Powder and 1 tsp Icing Sugar if you wish to.