Kansas City Chocolate Dream

One bowl wonders are a favourite of mine. One bowl and a pot I can handle, anything more than that and you are looking at me needing to prep myself to bake. I love intricate bakes don't get me wrong, but when something pops up that's a one bowl, dump cake of sorts with a self frosting component- OH hells to the yes!!

The Kansas City Chocolate Dream is my next installment from The Cake Slice Bakers. Time wasn't an issue for me this month, but being lazy was. I know, I know but don't judge me... I was still actively productive!!  Really though when I whittled down the options, having all the ingredients in the pantry and only needing one bowl and one pot, the other bakes couldn't hold a candle.

In saying all of that, this cake weirded me out, a lot. I followed the recipe exactly, no shortcuts or skip overs. It's a very sticky mix, not much give. The chocolate hot sauce topping is strange and the whole concept of something genuinely self frosting just went against all my bakers instincts, and I was right. It did what Maida Heatters Cakes said it would do, it fluffed up, more than doubled in height and the frosting turned this kind of black patent topping. But it tasted... I don't know really. Over done isn't right, but not burnt. There was still a good chocolate flavour from it, but just over done. You know?

It just didn't add anything to the cake for me.

Kansas City Chocolate Dream

The Cake
130g flour
2 tsps of baking powder
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
130g granulated sugar
225ml milk
1tsp vanilla
60g butter (melted)
60g walnuts, chopped roughly

Preheat your oven to 350F/180C or Gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan and leave to one side.
In one bowl dry whisk the first 4 ingredients. Add the milk and vanilla, then the melted butter and mix until fully incorporated. Fold through the walnuts. Add the contents of the bowl to the square pan and leave to one side.

The Topping
75g granulated sugar
6tbsp cocoa powder
85g soft brown sugar
2tsp instant coffee
250ml water

In a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients and stir over a high heat until boiling and all the sugar has dissolved.  Gently ladle the hot chocolate mix over the top of the cake in the pan and pop in the oven for 40 minutes. The topping sinks to the bottom of the pan when baking...

When it's finished, allow it to cool completely before inverting onto a serving plate. The cake might get a little stuck in the tin, so give it a good tap to come out. Also, the goo topping might be all stuck in the inside of your pan. A spatula will help un-stick that and you can just spread it right back on the top of your cake.

The cake crumb itself was fabulous. Light and fluffy and a total contrast to the weird, self frosting shenanigans. I would personally have omitted the walnuts in the mix, they were just unnecessary. Imagine if you will, soft almost brownies with a peculiar chocolate goo oozing from the top. That is this cake. Serves me right for being lazy.

Kansas City has some questions to answer though, if this is their idea of a chocolate dream!

Served with ice cream people proclaimed this wasn't that bad. It didn't have the coffee bang off of it that I expected, but it was eaten and some people actually liked it. Not one I will rush back to.

It was a strange one alright.

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