Articles and News
Chocolate Rudd Cake
Published: 05/10/2008, by Samanatha Madell
Kevin Rudd has a lot on his plate at the moment. (For the benefit of our international readers, Kevin is the Prime Minister of Australia, and he's busy trying to save the Australian economy from the fallout of the global economic crisis). But no matter how full a person's plate is, there should always be room on it for a piece of chocolate cake!
Kevin's wife, Therese, says that Kevin makes "a great chocolate cake. He's really good at the icing. Sometimes, it's for special occasions, but sometimes it's just so he can unwind".
Kevin looks like he needs to unwind at the moment, but I suspect that he doesn't have time for baking just now. So I baked a cake for him.
The recipe that Kevin uses is one that he got from his Mum, who in turn reportedly got the recipe from a 1950s Country Women's Association (CWA) cookbook. It produces a very tasty, soft cake, full of buttery goodness.
In fact, legend has it that our Prime Minister has won several baking contests in his local area, using this very recipe. "I'm quite proud of that," he says.
Ingredients
Chocolate Rudd Cake
- 185g butter, softened
- ¾ cup (155g) firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2 eggs
- 1¼ cups (190g) self-raising flour
- 2 tablespoons (30g) cocoa powder
- ½ cup (125ml) milk
Chocolate icing
- ¾ cup (125g) icing sugar mixture
- 1½ tablespoons cocoa powder
- 75g butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon warm milk
Directions
- Preheat oven to moderate (180°C/160°:C fan-forced).
- Grease and line a 22cm round cake tin.
- Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
- In another bowl, sift the flour and cocoa together, then fold it and the milk, alternating, into the creamed butter and sugar.
- Spread mixture into prepared tin; bake for about 45 minutes.
- To make icing: sift icing sugar and cocoa into a medium bowl; add butter and milk, beat until smooth.
- Allow cake to cool completely before spreading with chocolate icing.