Cocoa Fudge Cake with Chocolate Nutella Frosting

Cocoa Fudge Cake with Chocolate Nutella Frosting - made June 17, 2012 from Yummy Healthy Easy blog

I was in the mood for chocolate last weekend and although it was sweltering hot, I sucked it up to make this easy chocolate cake recipe.  I knew just from looking at the ingredients with its high proportion of liquid ingredients that the batter would be thin and the cake would be moist.  And I was right.  As advertised on the original blog, (click on the recipe title to get the cake recipe), this cake was very moist and deliciously fudgy.  Don't underbake it as it'll turn out too gummy but bake until the toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist (but not wet) crumbs.  The quality of the taste however will largely depend on the quality of your cocoa so use the good stuff (do I still need to say that?).  A dark cocoa works best to give it full flavor.

I skipped the icing recipe though to do my usual fast, no-fail frosting.  I melted some chocolate chips with nutella, blended smooth and spread on the cake.  I didn't measure how much of each but you can play with it according to taste and texture preference.  If you want the frosting to remain somewhat soft and fluid, use more nutella.  If you want it to set slightly, almost like a soft fudge, use more chocolate chips.  There's really no getting it wrong.  However, given how moist this cake is, it's best not to slice it until you're ready to serve or else wrap completely in plastic, preferably directly wrapping the cake in plastic so there's no air trapped between plastic and cake.  Otherwise the cut ends will dry out faster and you'll lose the goodness of the moist texture.

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup hot water

Icing
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine cocoa, sugar, salt, flour and soda. 
2. Add the oil, buttermilk and eggs. Mix well, then add the water. 
3. Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Remove cake from pan while warm, not hot.
4. For the icing: boil the sugar, cocoa, milk and butter in a saucepan on the stove for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the vanilla. Stir until cool or thick enough to adhere to the cake. Pour quickly before it sets.