The Hot Mess

I've called this cake The Hot Mess, because, honestly, my first attempt was not the most beautiful thing.  But it tasted so incredible that I just had to share it, right now, without waiting for pictures of another attempt.

See how gooey that is?!

This is a soft, moist, dense chocolate cake, with a syrupy chocolate glaze, and heavenly light, fluffy, creamy icing in the middle.  The cake itself is based on this one, which I also used for the Kiss Me With Tongues Chocolate Roulade.  I also used the glaze given in that recipe.  The icing is a veganised version of this one.

Make the cake first.

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/4 Cups of Plain Flour
• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 1/3 Cup of Cocoa Powder
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tsp of Cider Vinegar

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5.
2. Mix together all the wet ingredients.  Mix together all the dry ingredients.  Pour one into the other, and mix some more.
3. Bake for 30 minutes.  I found that they were still slightly gooey after this time, but they were fully cooked.

 While the cake is cooling, make the icing.

Ingredients

• 1/4 Cup of Non-Dairy Milk
• 1/4 Cup of Icing Sugar
• 1/4 Cup of Vegan Margarine (I used Vitalite).
• 3 Tablespoons of Plain Flour
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Mix the flour with the milk, and heat slowly.  As it reaches boiling point, it will thicken.  This will happen fairly quickly, so keep mixing to avoid lumps.  Take it off the heat, and let it cool.
2. Cream together the margarine and the sugar.  When the milk mixture is cool, mix it with the margarine and sugar, and add the vanilla.

You may have noticed that my icing is red, in the pictures.  I'll explain why later.

Sandwich the cake together with the icing, and make the glaze.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Vegan Margarine
• 2 Tbs Non-Dairy Milk
• 2 Tbs Cocoa Powder
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Mix all of the ingredients except the vanilla, and slowly bring to a boil.  Stir rapidly for a minute, before reducing to a simmer, and continuing to stir for a further two minutes.
2. Take it off the heat, and keep stirring for five minutes.  Add the vanilla at this point.  The glaze will thicken as it cools.
3. Pour it on the cake!

Try to let it cool.  The glaze sets very nicely.

I'm also planning to use this glaze on my Midlands Mud Pie (oh, it'll be incredible!  Bourbon biscuit crust, chocolate ice cream centre, chocolate glaze on top!), and on profiteroles, with the icing serving as the whipped cream.  I also plan to use that icing on a trifle, if I ever get any more Agar Agar, to set the jelly properly.

While making this, I also made a tester of my birthday cake, and coated it with the red icing.

It tastes incredible, but I think I'm going to need to use marzipan, or something similar, rather than the soft icing.

As for why my birthday cake looks like this...well, my ribs look like this.

His name is Patrick.

As for the name of the cake, the Hot Mess...that came from Glee.

This episode, in fact.

I would, in fact, disagree with Santana's verdict here.  That is not a hot mess.  That's just hot.