Tunnel of Fudge Cake Baked from Scratch

Tunnel of Fudge Cake Baked from Scratch

Ella Helfrich won second place the Pillsbury Bake-off in America 1966 with her Tunnel of Fudge Cake. However, this recipe is not Ella Helfrich's but comes from a great baking book called The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. If you enjoy baking this really is a wonderful book to have, it consists of more than 700 kitchen-tested recipes, 800 step by step photos and at a glance tutorials. Even though I would hope to class myself as a seasoned baker, one never stops learning, and I feel this book is a little treasure of information. Pease note this book uses American cup sizes and Imperial measures.

Top View oozing with chocolate glaze

I’ve had a passion to bake this great American cake for quite awhile now and this cake certainly lived up to its name and was everything I thought it would be on my first initial taste. Let me explain to you, by being a self confessed chocoholic this cake certainly hits that craving spot for chocolate! It has a scrumptious tunnel of fudge running through the centre much akin to the gooey centre of a brownie, “blissful”; the outside of the cake has a moist sponge and the crème de la crème, a gorgeous chocolate glaze which stays a fabulous gooeyness. Oh my; this certainly is one very, very gorgeous cake – I salute you Ella Helfrich for your invention of such a magnificent cake!!!

Showing the gorgeous chocolate glaze

A scrumptious tunnel of fudge running through the centre

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Slightly adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.

Serves 12

Ingredients
115 ml (4 fl oz) boiling water
50g (2 oz) dark (bittersweet) chocolate 70% cocoa solids
275g (10 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
225g (8 oz) pecans or walnuts, chopped finely
225g (8 oz) icing (confectioner’s) sugar
55g (2½ oz) cocoa (Dutch-processed) powder
1 tsp salt
275g (10 oz) unsalted butter, cut into chunks and softened
200g (7 oz) granulated sugar
155g (5¼ oz) light brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5 large eggs, at room temperature
For The Chocolate Glaze
100g (4 oz) dark (bittersweet) chocolate 70% cocoa solids
75g (3 oz) double (heavy) cream, hot
2 tbsp golden (light corn) syrup
¼ tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

You will need a 12 cup Bundt pan prepared by mixing 25g (1 oz) melted butter and 25g (1 oz) cocoa powder and then brushing thoroughly with this mixture inside the pan. For me it worked better than any spray or greasing then dusting with cocoa powder and the cake came out a treat.

Method

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

Add the chopped chocolate to the boiling water and whisk through until melted and smooth. Leave aside for later. In a bowl, mix the flour, nuts, icing sugar, cocoa powder and salt together. In a stand mixer or a using a bowl and electric hand mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until all combined then beat in the chocolate mixture. Reduce the mixer speed to lower and slowly beat in the flour until just incorporated. Scrape the mixture into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top. Tap the pan gently on the work top to settle the mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and the top feels springy when pressed with a finger. The skewer test will not work on this cake to test if ready as the centre remains gooey. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to completely cool for about 2 hours.

To make the chocolate glaze; whisk all of the glaze ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and then leave it to cool for about 25 minutes and it will thicken slightly. Pour or drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake letting it drip down the sides. Let the glaze set again for about 25 minutes before serving.

Lastly cut a slice, sit back, eat and take yourself on a wonderful experience of chocolate paradise!