Mud cakes are dense, fudgey, moist chocolate cakes famous for their resemblance to…. Mud!! Now, that we’ve cleared that mystery, I should admit I’d never eaten any mud cakes before we moved to Australia. For one, I wasn’t very sure of the contents (Ah yes, laugh all you want!) and, being vegan (which I was back then too) did not mean I was about to start eating everything that wasn’t derived from an animal either! I can now honestly admit that I’ve moved on from my initial trepidation to taste and bake these many, many times. They make perfect birthday cakes as the flavour is always better the next day. I’m very curious to know if you have had any funny experiences with unfamiliar food names in the comments below

We need,

• Fine Wholemeal Flour – 1.5 cups (Pass through a sieve twice/ thrice for fine flour)
• Soda Bicarbonate – 1 teaspoon
• Raw Sugar – 1 cup
• Baking Cocoa Powder – 3.5 tablespoons
• Vanilla Essence – 2 teaspoons
• Water – 1 cup
• Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) – 1 tablespoon
• Light Vegetable Oil (I used sunflower) – 5 tablespoons

Directions,

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Spray an 8″ cake pan and set aside.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together – flour, sugar and cocoa.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together water, ACV, vanilla and oil.
5. Add the bicarbonate of soda to the wet ingredients and mix well.
6. Fold in the flour mix and whisk until no lumps remain. The batter is quite thin and easy to pour.
7. Pour into the prepared cake pan.
8. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes or, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
9. Rest the cake in the cake pan for atleast 15 minutes before inverting on a cake rack. Cool well before icing.