Open Book Cake / Chocolate Mud Cake

Last month was my little one Shayaan's 6th birthday. He enjoys collecting and reading books. So for this year's birthday cake we chose " open book" as the theme...

Ingredients:

For Chocolate Mud Cake:

2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup water

250 gm unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup milk

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

220 gm dark chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp instant coffee powder

2 tbsp oil

For Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3-4 cups icing sugar/ confectioner's sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp milk

Ready to roll fondants ( white, black, yellow...)

edible writing markers or pens

Preparation:

For Chocolate Mud Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degree celcius. Line the base and sides of a rectangle baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Sift together plain flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt and keep it aside.
3. In a sauce pan, take 3/4 cup water and bring it to a boil. Add in instant coffee powder, butter and dark chocolate and heat it gently till it is melted.
4. Add sugar and mix it on low flame till it is completely melted. Pour this into a large bowl and keep it aside to cool down a bit.
5. Then add milk into this chocolate mix and mix well. Add in the oil and mix.
6. Add one egg at a time and whisk it well. Now add in the sifted flour and mix well.
7. Pour this batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean.
8. Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely.

For Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

1. In a bowl, add the butter and beat until smooth and creamy at medium speed using electric mixer.
2. Add 3 cups icing sugar/ confectioner's sugar , little at a time on low speed,until it mixes well with the butter.
3. Then increase the speed to medium and add vanilla extract and milk and beat until smooth and creamy...

Assembling the Cake:

• Unmold the cake from pan and place on a serving plate or cake stand and carve the top of the cake to look like an open book. Also cut out a tiny triangle piece at the bottom..

• Then frost the outside of the entire cake with a thin layer of white frosting (crumb coat) and refrigerate the cake for about 30 minutes.

• Cover the crumb coated cake with white fondant and use a cake smoother to smooth the fondant over the top of the cake, into the center crease and down over the sides of the cake.
• Cut off any excess fondant at the bottom edges. Using icing comb or thin metal ruler make patterns like stacked pages.
• Roll a black fondant into long strip and place it around the bottom of the cake.
• Cut a long thin strip of yellow fondant ( or any colour of your choice) and drape the strip down the center of the cake to make a ribbon page marker.
• Using edible markers or pens write on the open page of the cake...
• When ready to serve, cut the cake into slices and serve....

Recipe Source Chocolate Mud Cake: yummytummyaarthi.com

• Original recipe uses 2 3/4 cup sugar for this mud cake, but I reduced to 2 cups..
• Baking time also varies depending on the size of the baking pan and oven used.. In the original recipe, for 20 cm deep round pan the baking time is 1 3/4 - 2 hours at 150 degree celcius..