It’s New Year’s Eve and guess what happened last night!  Something that rarely ever happens in our neck of the woods, but I can tell you that it sent me directly into the kitchen to bake this rich chocolate fudge cake!   We had SNOW!

Looking east toward Palomar Mountain, this is what we could see this morning!  Thankfully we didn’t have snow on the avocado trees, but there was a lot of snow on the hills that were higher in elevation.

The trees in the foreground are on our avocado ranch, and you can see the snow up in Hidden Meadows, a hilltop residential area.   We have been told to expect low temperatures tonight, and we’re hoping that our trees won’t sustain any damage from the freeze.   I can remember one year when our avocado trees froze more than once, and it wasn’t pretty.  We don’t want to lose our crop that we have nurtured over the past year … we want to be able to harvest those beautiful avocados!

To take my mind off the weather (and to warm up the kitchen),  I decided to make this luscious double fudge cake to celebrate New Year’s Eve.  This one has buttermilk and  unsweetened cocoa in the cake,  plus a cup of freshly brewed coffee!  The ganache frosting was easy to make with semi-sweet chocolate chips and heavy cream as the main ingredients.

Mimi Avocado’s Double Fudge Cake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup hot freshly brewed coffee

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Grease and flour a bundt cake pan.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer,  place the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  With the paddle attachment, slowly mix the dry ingredients until well combined.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture,  stirring only until the liquid is incorporated.   Then gradually pour the coffee into the batter, stiffing just until combined.

Pour the batter into the bundt cake pan, and bake for 45 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out of the cake clean.  Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes.  Invert the cake onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.

Frosting:

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Bring the cream to a boil.  In a mixing bowl, place the corn syrup, butter, and chocolate chips.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it melt for about 5 minutes.  Whisk the frosting until smooth.  Place into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and let it firm up before you frost the cake.  (Or pour the glaze over the cake if you like the glaze to pool around the cake.)

This cake is rich enough by itself,  but a little whipped cream couldn’t hurt either!  The coffee helps to deepen the chocolate flavor of the cake,  and the whipped cream just seems to belong on the plate!

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year!  I appreciate everyone who visits me here and follows Mimi Avocado.  Thank you for your loyalty and friendship!