White Chocolate Mud Cake with Raspberry Filling

Hello, all! Before I get on with the recipe, I must say that up until recently, I was an absolute white chocolate-hater. It kind of baffled me because it doesn't actually contain chocolate or cocoa solids. It's made of cocoa butter and milk solids. So in my mind, I did not consider it "real chocolate." It was an anomaly!

And I find that although it's questionable in flavor by itself, it actually tastes quite good once it's paired with other flavors. For instance, it works quite well with pumpkin and fall spices. But my favorite pairing is with raspberry. Somehow, raspberry and white chocolate combines in such a magical way, it has convinced me to actually give white chocolate a fair chance and bake with it!

Which brings me to finding a recipe for White Chocolate Mud Cake. I searched far and wide (well, I just Googled for a moment or two), and I found a recipe by Nigella Lawson. But in her English splendor, she uses metric measurements, which doesn't quite work for me, sooo I found the translated recipe at an awesome blog called Chocolate, Chocolate, and more. The recipe is as follows:

• 1 3/4 c white chocolate chips
• 14 Tbsp butter
• 1 c milk
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 2/3 c self-rising flour
• 1 c all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 320. Grease 2 6" pans (the original recipe was for one 8" square pan) and line with parchment paper.

Place chocolate, butter, milk, and sugar in a saucepan over low heat (have patience; this part takes a while!)

Stir frequently until chocolate and butter are completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Allow this to cool for 15 minutes. Then add the vanilla and eggs.

Meanwhile, sift the flours together in a large mixing bowl.

Then pour in the chocolate mixture, 1 cup at a time, blending well after each addition.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes (My little cakes took 1 hour 10 minutes)

Remove from the oven and cover with a clean tea cloth or parchment paper, and allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans.

The recipe goes on to a white chocolate ganache but I decided to split my layers, fill them with raspberry, and ice the cake in vanilla buttercream.

Yum!

 Then, in order to satisfy my Betrothed, I poured a bit of "real chocolate" over the whole thing.

I wanted to experiment with the ombre style, so I decided to make a little heart that starts white and blends up into a deep red.

Then I added some light green leaves...

Then I added a bit of writing (which my Betrothed didn't think I could fit. Hmph!)

I think it turned out quite well! My Betrothed and I loved it! :)

I had him cut... I just couldn't!

What would have made this even tastier? Some vanilla bean ice cream (noted for next time).