Swedish Kladdkaka Cake (Gooey Chocolate Cake)

Timing is really crucial in baking. Sometimes I find myself crouched down in front of the oven like a baking despot making sure my bake is doing exactly what I want it to do. Bake evenly. I don’t want it to be over baked nor do I want it to be under baked. There are fewer things more vexatious than, over enthusiastically pulling your bake out of the oven to find that it has a soggy bottom. Some instances putting your bake in the oven (especially recipes requiring a long baking time) and doing something else only to remember 15 minutes over the time you were suppose to take it out that it’s top is burning.

I wish I could follow my previous paragraph with saying “With this next recipe you’ll never be in a timing nightmare.” but alas this recipe may take a few attempts for you to get your timings exactly right. Sorry!

This recipe was staring me in the face a few years back, on one of my numerous trips to Ikea for random household items. The Kladdkaka is possibly Sweden’s most popular cake with varying version of this classic recipe. Little did I know when I picked up that recipe card at Ikea that it would lead to three bakes where it almost broke me as a baker as the first came out over baked, the second, over baked, the third over baked AGAIN.

This recipe may take a few attempts for you to get your timings exactly right.

The reason that this recipe is particularly tricky is that it is supposed to be deliberately under baked to keep the middle soft and gooey. It has no rising agents so it is a flat cake, which makes it very easy to over bake.

The method itself is not difficult but unless you have beginners luck, don’t despair if it takes you a few attempts to get this one right.

Lets start!

Prep time 10 minutes
Cooking time is approximately 20 minutes (but it may vary so KEEP AN EYE on it!)
This recipe should serve 8. 

INGREDIENTS

100g unsalted butter
2 eggs
200g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
150g plain flour
3tbsp cocoa powder

METHOD

Begin by preheating your oven to 180°c, gas mark 4. Line a round baking tin with baking parchment and grease sparingly with some butter.
1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool slightly.
2. With an electric beater whisk together the eggs sugar and vanilla extract until the mixtures is a pale light fluffy yellow. This usually takes around 3-4 minutes.
3. Then Sift together the cocoa powder and flour into the egg and sugar. Fold the mixture until everything is evenly incorporated.
4. Next fold in the melted butter until the mixture turns a smooth chocolately mixture.
5. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and place in the oven. It should take around 20 minutes but as I aforementioned this can vary exponentially so keep a close eye on it. It should rise a little in the oven during the baking process. A good way to tell when it is ready is to press down gently and the crust should crackle.
6. When the cake is ready remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin, this is of course unless you think it’s been in for too long, in which case remove from the tin immediately and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Seriously don’t despair if you’ve over done it the first time! The saying “When it’s good it’s very, very good, when it’s bad it’s horrid” comes to mind. Of course no chocolate cake could ever be horrid, however you’ll know that it is over done because it will be dense to the taste.

You can serve it with whipped cream or ice cream and its a great coffee accompaniment too!

As always I would love to see how your bark from this recipe turned out, and what combinations you’ve decided to try, so follow me on instagram @cakesthebiscuit and hashtag #cakesthebiscuit or follow and tweet me @cakes_biscuit on Twitter!