Chocolate Walnut Fudge Cake

Butter brags !!! Hmm, people brag, but butter? Yeah, why not?

;-) Well, butter ball, when you are in my cake, you have all rights to brag... Being so utterly, butterly, deliciously, fatty, rich and creamy, you should,  c'mon now. You see, I don't use these lean, skinny, boring vegetable oil or canola oil to bake diet cakes. You are so precious, butter ball. I so yummly love you !!!

And now what is this "Butter brags" all about??? Well, when I named my blog as "SlurpBurp", people did say, "Eww! What a name! Name it something like "Cooking and blah", "Spicy and blah", "Rasmi's kitchen". "Rasmi's kitchen" !?! How disgusting! As it is, my friends call me "RaSSSm" because of my "H" deficient name. And after all this, a blog by that name??? ;-) Anyways, my strange choice of name "SlurpBurp" remained as is and now just when I wanted to post the recipe here, this thought creeped into li'l brain. Why not my cakes have a deserving name? Suddenly, all the beautiful things in my cakes came alive in my mind and flashed a beautiful smile. Among all, butter looked amazing like a cute, chubby, fairy to me.
 
:-O Now let me guiltily confess to all my dear friends whom I have tempted with food photographs and offered cakes and cookies with so much of love and to all my family members whom I have welcomed with generous servings of cakes and cookies. I do add a llllot (you know what I mean by multiple "l"s. Read it with raised eyebrows and wide-opened eyes, you will get it) of pure butter chunks in my cakes. So I am gonna let it brag and let the world know what it's up to. So hereafter, my cakes and cookies are branded as "Butter brags Cakes and Cookies". Should I patent this? LOL ;-)

 
So, all butter-haters and diet conscious people out here, this is a danger zone, stay miles away... ;)

By the way, do you all get this sudden, irresistible cravings for chocolates right after breakfast, mid mornings, just after lunch, evenings, Ok forget it, at least once in a day? Ask me, :-) I even steal chocolate bars from Meghna's school bag because her bag never falls short of chocolates due to birthday celebrations at school.

Here I am presenting the most sinful chocolate overloaded cake that I have ever baked... This deep, dark Chocolate Walnut Fudge cake will for sure satisfy all your chocolate cravings. It's truly worth a try... ;-)
 
Ingredients 

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
3. Unsalted butter/cooking butter - 1/2 cup
4. Brown sugar-1 1/4 c, packed
5. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
6. Salt - 1/4 tsp
7. Large eggs - 2
8. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
9. Walnuts - 1/2 cup, roasted and chopped
10. Hot water- 1/2 cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).  Grease an 8 inch cake pan with butter and dust it with plain flour. 
2. In a non-stick pan, melt butter and let it to cool.
3. Add the sugar to it and combine it well with the butter by using a wooden spatula.
4. Add in both the eggs and vanilla together and mix until combined.
5. Add in all the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Make sure the batter is smooth and lump-free.
6. Pour in the hot water and mix it well. (Don't panic if the cake batter becomes watery. That's the consistency of this cake unlike other ones.)
7. Fold in the chopped walnuts and keep aside a few to sprinkle on the top of the cake batter.
8. Pour the cake mix into the baking tin and sprinkle the remaining walnuts on the top of the batter.
9. Bake for about 35-45 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
10. Remove the cake from oven and let it cool. ;-)

This was mainly baked for my office friends. But the chocolate-lover in me couldn' resist, I gobbled one generous portion of this delicious cake before I transferred the remaining pieces into the container. And my li'l girl, who was pretending to have fallen asleep tip-toed to the kitchen to take away her share. So, the rest of it goes to my office tomorrow for the long-pending treat that I had promised ... ;-)

Crunchy Apple Streusel Cake - With Streusel Topping

;-) Heyyy SlurpBurp, here I am, back again with a much more fabulous recipe !!! You see, I have been busy and I know I kind of alienated you for so many years.. Never again, trust me !!! :-)

Did I tell you that this is the first ever cake that I have baked with Apple as the main ingredient? The fruit stall near my home was vibrant and colorful with blushing red apples... ;-) How can I ignore and not take away a few along? Once back home, without giving my overexcited brain much time, I started hunting for my kitchen sweethearts - butter, sugar, all-purpose flour, my not-so-favorite walnuts, and the 1 lonely egg left after the "overly-eggy" tutti-fruity cake that I baked a couple of days ago. And not to forget my dusky beauty, the WANKANAI tightly packed brown sugar, which my friend has dearly gifted me a month ago. All put together, I got this gorgeous, brown beauty for my dear buddy who visited us today with her kiddo!!! I couldn' wait for it to cool down to gorge on it. It was just too delicious to resist and I finished half the portion with generous dollops of yummy Vanilla Ice-cream... ;-)
 
The simplicity of this recipe and the amazing result it gave me reminded me of my slurpburp and my foodie friends... So here you go... ;-)

For Streusel Topping:

1. All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
2. Cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces - 3 tablespoons
3. Ground cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon
4. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
5. Walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped  - 1/4 cup

For Cake Batter:

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
3. Salt - 1 pinch
4. Unsalted butter (room temperature) - 1/4 cup
5. Granulated white sugar - 1/2 cup
6. Large egg - 1
7. Milk - 1/3 cup
8. Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
9. Large apples (peeled, cored, and thinly sliced) - 2

Method
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).  Grease an 8 inch cake pan with butter and dust it with plain flour.

Streusel Topping

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and ground cinnamon. 
2. Add the chopped, cold butter with fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. 
3. Stir in the brown sugar and chopped walnuts. Set this mix aside.

Cake Batter 

1. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 
2. In a separate bowl, beat the butter until creamy and smooth. 
3. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated.
5. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk. Continue to alternate between the milk and flour mixture and end it with flour mixture and beat until combined. 
6. Spread the batter into the the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
7.  Evenly arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter (do not press it) and then sprinkle with the streusel topping.
8. Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. 
9. Remove the cake from oven and let it cool.

Slice it and indulge... It tastes the best when it is warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream.

Makes 9 - 10 servings.

Happy Baking !!! :-)