Blueberry White Chocolate Mud Cake

This blueberry white chocolate mud cake is dense, delicious and super simple to make. The tart blueberries complement the sweetness of the white chocolate and rich berry frosting beautifully. It can be made with regular or spelt flour.

In this post we are also going to look at why one layer cakes are so amazing, and whether they really need frosting.

I’ve been on a roll with my berry recipes of late. It’s always so exciting to use fresh, in season, fruit in my baking, especially blackberries. I was updating some older posts, and was reminded of freaking awesome my white chocolate mud cake had been. It was drenched in whipped white chocolate ganache (I know), but quite unbelievably, I forgot all about it. On spying it, I just knew it was time to recreate it. This time, with berry frosting in place of ganache.

The simplicity of single layer cakes

I much prefer to make one-layer cakes. Although, it definitely depends on the occasion. If you are making a birthday cake or something for special occasion, then a two, or even three layered cake, is perfect. You also need to factor in how many people are going to eat it. I’ve talked a lot about how fussy my 17 year old son can be. If I am making something with cream cheese, he’s out. So, if I know I am going to be the only person eating it, I am reluctant to make it too big. Especially as most of it gets popped in the freezer.

It’s personal preference, but I like to bake just one cake at a time. Much easier to focus on then. I can’t be bothered with going to the effort of making sure both pans contain equal batter. Yeah, I am that lazy. I don’t know some bakers manage a never ending supply of cakes baking at the same time.

Speed is another reason why single layer cakes are just the job. You don’t even need to frost them, which means you could be scoffing down on it within an hour of coming out of the oven. Even better, go for a Swedish kladdkaka, which can be eaten right out of the oven.

To frost or not to frost (your one layer cake)

Sometimes, I find it hard to decide whether to frost or not. Single layer cakes are great if you already have a sweet sponge and don’t really want to have a filling and a frosting. An over-cloying frosting is not necessary then. Plus, I am not a piper. So any cake I do make has to have a frosting spread over. There certainly won’t be intricate decorating going on in this house. Here are some ideas on how you can top a one layer cake:

Buttercream

I love me some frosting. Any kind. But, buttercream can be a little too much for me, especially in a multi-layered cake. But if you only have the top of the cake to frost, then it’s a little less rich. Which means you can eat more. Result. Baker Bettie has the best buttercream frosting, so if that’s what you want to add to your one-layer cake, you know where to go.

Cream cheese frosting

My preferred frosting is a mixture of cream cheese and butter, like the one I made for this blueberry white chocolate mud cake. I had some extra frosting left over after making my raspberry and blackberry cupcakes and thought it would go perfectly with the soft, dense crumb of the cake.

However, I made a bit of a rookie mistake. The cake was still a little warm (I didn’t realise), and my thick frosting, which had been in the fridge for a few days, softened on me. I usually prefer a soft frosting (or icing), but this time, I wanted to make lovely swirls with a knife. Although disappointing, it was still delicious.

Icing or glaze

I often make an icing (or glaze) for my cakes. There’s nothing more complicated than mixing icing (powdered) sugar together with some form of liquid. For simple icing, I use water, but it is most often milk.

The thing I like most about icing is that it is so adaptable. Using instant coffee with milk is one of my favourite icings and frostings, and it’s not only reserved for cakes. My giant soft coffee spelt overnight buns have swirls of rich coffee icing. For berry cakes like my lime and blackberry Swedish mud cake, I just mixed milk, blackberries and lime juice together.

Drizzling

Some cakes require nothing more than a light drizzle. You prepare a syrupy glaze and pour it over the sponge, such as with my elderflower and lime cake. Or, you can drizzle the icing over the top as I did for my orange drizzle cake

A sprinkling of powdered sugar

I love a dusting of powdered sugar to complete a cake. I usually use this method when I am eating a little healthier, but still want cake. It allows for a scant touch of sweetness without going over the top. A good example is my spelt lime and blueberry cake.

Go completely naked (your cake, not you)

Although my blog is full of hefty, sugar and fat laden cakes, I don’t make (or eat) them every day. Most of the time, I eat very little sugar at home. During these times, I might fancy a cake, and top it with nothing. That’s right. Naked in all its glory. My lighter raspberry sponge cake is one of my most popular recipes, and it’s not difficult to understand why.

How should this cake be stored?

The cake is incredibly soft and moist, and will stay fresh for a good couple of days in an airtight container. If you are not a fan of cold cake, you can leave it on the counter surface for a few hours, but any longer and it needs go to in the fridge (due to the cream cheese and butter in the frosting).

The cake freezes amazingly well. Yes, even the frosting. As I have mentioned, it is often only me eating cake in my house, so I have plenty left over. I slice up cake, cover each slice with baking paper or clingfilm and pop all of the slices into a freezer bag. This means that I can take out individual slices whenever I fancy it. Just pop it on the counter to defrost. Alternatively, you can freeze the whole cake without frosting it, then defrost and decorate it however you like.

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