the tunnel of fudge cake
Monday, January 12th, 2009
we are smothered.
ice, snow, and then more snow on top of it all. i keep myself sane by daydreaming of the things i’m going to do once (if ever?) it warms up, i’ve got to keep hope alive!! amen!
buy a new kettle grill! charcoal! set out the patio furniture! the swing! plant new herbs and vegetables!
over and over i visualize these things, as i drive through the brown and grimy muddy snow, windshield wipers swooping like crazy batty demented eyelashes.
so being cooped up indoors by a snowstorm, again– husband: only 5 inches. not much. me: only? ONLY?! ever the optimist, he considers shoveling good exercise, and i look to him for inspiration so i’ll survive this mad winter, brain intact 
–
i made another chocolate cake.
i know, i should create a category here for chocolate all on its own, since i like to bake the latest intriguing recipe i find. this one caught my eye for its title and its premise/promise: a mysterious tunnel of fudge is formed in the middle as it bakes. wow, i thought, sort of like a gigantic Bundt-size molten chocolate cake instead of several tiny ramekin portions. it’s a Pillsbury bake-off champ of a recipe too!
Bundt cake flipped out, unscathed! yehey for my assistant chef, #2son, who buttered and floured the pan extra-enthusiastically. he also confessed, he loves cracking the eggs for me.
tunnel of fudge cake
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups margarine or butter, softened
6 eggs
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 1/4 cups all purpose or unbleached flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (i used Droste brand, processed with alkali)
2 cups chopped walnuts
glaze (which i did not make, since it is already quite sugar-laden 
and there’s moistness in the tunnel…)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 to 6 teaspoons milk
preheat oven to 350°F. grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube cake pan or 10-inch tube pan. in large bowl, combine sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar; blend well. by hand, stir in flour and remaining cake ingredients until well blended. spoon batter into greased and floured pan; spread evenly.
bake at 350°F. for 45 to 50 minutes or until top is set and edges are beginning to pull away from sides of pan. cool upright in pan on wire rack 1 1/2 hours. Invert onto serving plate; cool at least 2 hours.
in small bowl, combine all glaze ingredients, adding enough milk for desired drizzling consistency. spoon over top of cake, allowing some to run down sides. store tightly covered.
notes from the cook:
make sure oven temperature is accurate (i used an oven thermometer…er ahem two thermometers to be exact, just to be obsessive about it).
measure ingredients exactly.
sift the confectioners’ sugar…do not skip this step!
*you need those two cups of walnuts.