A Big Fat Chocolate Celebration Cake - Eid Mubarak!

One of my colleagues at work observed Ramadan last month, which is no mean feat given how greedy and opulent our company is when it comes to lunchtimes. Our office is based in the heart of Mayfair in London, so you can imagine the meals that get come into our kitchen daily - everything from Oysters to Sushi, Burgers to Chinese. Decadence, gluttony and not a packed lunch in sight.

I knew for somebody fasting that this would be a tough environment to be in, not to mention fasting during the hottest summer that we've had in London for 6 years. So, at the start of Ramadan, I asked my colleague what I could make him to help celebrate when Eid came around - this could be anything that he wanted - and his response was: Chocolate, Chocolate and more Chocolate! I like to keep my promises, so I set about making the most chocolatey cake that I could find, this Chocolate Fudge Cake by Nigella Lawson.

As my Mum always says, 'It's the thought that counts' and the cake decoration is a good example of this! I admit that it does leave a little to be desired, but I was going for 'Festive' in a hurry and I think the overall sentiment was achieved - I personally love my crazy cake!

So talking of the cake...It is fantastically easy to make, you pretty much chuck everything into a bowl, mix it up and bake it. It is HUGE with two tiers, fudgy and rich - a bit like an old school chocolate fudge cake, but not too sickly. 

If I were to make it again, I would do two things: 1 -Bake it for approximately ten minutes longer than the fifty minutes that Nigella suggests - it was delicious but just a little on the squidgy side, the recipe contains so much liquid that baking it for a few minutes longer shouldn't dry the cake out. Mine looked a tad underdone but this didn't affect the taste whatsoever; and 2: Slice each of the two sponges into half so you end up with four thinner sponges, and add some whipped cream or butter cream on two of the layers to break the chocolate-fest up a little bit! Alternatively, go really old school, pub grub style and serve with custard and/or a big dollop of vanilla ice cream.

I'm linking this post up to the fab baking event 'Cook Like A Star' which is hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Anuja of Simple Baking. During each event they select a different chef - this month it's Nigella Lawson - and the idea is that we all link up together - via their blogs - with different recipes that we've made. For more info on the event, see here!