The best Chocolate Mud Cake with Toffee Frosting

I'm literally not sure where this recipe came from; I found it scribbled out on a piece of paper in my recipe folder; written down who knows when, just waiting to be rediscovered.
Anyway, on the prowl for a new and delicious recipe to make for my lovely faculty's shared lunch, it surfaced from the paper clippings and popped into my hand. It is literally the best chocolate mud cake I have made to date. Be prepared for the very long cooking time; note to self, do not start baking this at 9pm unless you can arrange a sleep in the next day. 

Chocolate Mud Cake with Toffee Frosting

Preheat the oven to 170deg. C and line a line a 22cm loose bottom dish with as much foil as it takes to make it batter tight. The mixture is quite liquid, so I put a length of foil over the round base, then slid the base into the collar, therefore making it watertight.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
250ml cream
50ml espresso
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups flour

Sift the flour and cocoa together.
Place oil in a large mixing bowl and with a whisk stir in the following ingredients one at a time: cream, espresso, water vanilla, eggs, sugar, salt and lastly baking powder.

Add the sifted flour and cocoa to the wet mixture and mix well until combined.

Pour into the lined tin. 

Bake for 1 and a half hours, then check by inserting a skewer into the cake to see if it comes out clean. 

Mine required an additional 10 minutes. Cool the cake in the tin. 

I left mine to cool overnight. 

Remove the cake from the tin and put onto a serving plate before starting to make the frosting.

Toffee Frosting - a toffee sugar style Italian meringue frosting

175g sugar
1 tablespoon liquid glucose
40ml water
3 egg whites

Separate the eggs. Reserve the egg yolks for another recipe. Beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. Not so much as the whites start to look dry, just stiff enough to stand up when the beater head is raised out of the mixture.

Place sugar, glucose and water into a small saucepan and heat until it reaches 135deg. C. on the sweet thermometer. Don't stir it once it starts to boil or the syrup will turn grainy. It should look a golden toffee colour.

With the beater running, very slowly add the toffee to the egg whites a few drops at a time. 

The eggs will form a smooth glossy toffee coloured frosting. The heat cooks the egg whites so no further cooking is needed.
Don't worry if little toffee bits stay in the frosting. It just adds to the affect.

Immediately cover the cake in the frosting. 

The meringue will set in no time so needs to be spread on the cake straight away.

I piped some chocolate run-outs to decorate the cake top. 

Make a piping bag by folding over a triangle of baking paper as shown, then fold the other side around the cone and tuck the points inside to stop it unfurling. 

Pipe the melted chocolate onto baking paper and leave to set before gently sitting on the cake.

Happy days! And the perfect antidote to the busy conclusion to the school year.