Ah the Fudge Loaf, basic recipe number 2 in the continuing saga of All About Home Baking. An experiment in weirdness if ever there was one. Not that the instructions were weird; they were actually pretty straight forward. It was pretty small, but that’s not a problem. I think small cakes are good…much less to binge on! The color was kind of odd. I guess I was hoping for a deeper chocolate color. But chocolate is chocolate so it’s hard to complain too much.
I did use the frosting recommended for the recipe, ‘Fudge Frosting’. Here’s something to remember; if the word ‘fudge’ is in the title of a frosting, you better believe the you’re going to get a fudge texture.Not only will you get the texture, but every single bit of the crazy sweetness that is fudge. The frosting was a cooked frosting and seemed to take a huge chunk of time out of my life. It required stirring constantly and the use of a candy thermometer. That’s a bit more work than I’m accustomed to in the world of boxed cakes and canned frosting. But this recipe did bring back some memories. It reminded me of the kind my grandmother used on her chocolate cake. Her love of dessert must have been strong to spend so much effort on a frosting.
Don’t get me wrong, I really love sweet stuff, (just look at my waistline and you can see every single cooking I’ve ever eaten) but this was a little over the top. As a testament to this cake’s overwhelming sweetness, the three of us shared one smallish piece and we couldn’t finish it.
After providing honest opinions and a bit of a debate, the consensus was that this cake rates a B. Okay, but not sure I’d make it again.
All About Home Baking contains a total of 23 ‘basic’ recipes and, after much thought, I’ve decided to go ahead and make the remaining 21 recipes. Sprinkled throughout the book are simple recipes to use as substitutes or to stretch your skill so, in cases where the basic recipe is just a frosting, I’ll choose a different cake to make with it.
I’m looking forward to working my way through this sweet book.
