Rainbow cake makes everything better

As I have mentioned (in almost every post), I have a little boy. He's three and a half and in my eyes, one of the most beautiful things on earth - however, I might be bias. This could come as a surprise to some readers, however I have been accused of mothering him a little too much, possibly over protecting him. But I ask you, is it coddling to swoop in and SAVE him from harm's way? Even if that incident is tiny? Maybe... He is an only child, so of course he will always be my baby. I joke about how much I am going to be one of those annoying Mum's where no girl is ever good enough for her angle son - I'm hoping that's a joke, only time will tell.

Anyway, over the weekend my protection instincts went into over drive. He had a sleep over at Grandma and Popops and hit his head about 30 minutes before I picked him up. I won't go into detail about what happened, as this is a baking blog and my detailed description could gross some readers out, however I did take him to the emergency room and they glued his wound back together. Seeing my baby boy like that, even though he was exceptionally brave, made me feel all kinds of guilt and I just wanted to hold and cuddle him for the rest of the day. We decided to do some special baking, so Reuben picked a cake and some decorations and got to it. Of course he choose a chocolate mudcake! A rich, thick, chocolatey cake - but what's better to cure a sore head?

So this cake is for my little boy, who was the bravest little man yesterday and now possibly has a little scar on his forehead which resembles Harry Potter.

Chocolate Mud Cake
From Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites

200g dark chocolate
200g butter
275g brown sugar
190mL espresso coffee
50g cocoa
3 eggs
180g sour cream
225g plain flour
75g self raising flour

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line a spring form tin then wrap the outside with alfoil to ensure the mixture doesn't leak when poured in.

In a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the chocolate, butter, brown sugar, cocoa and coffee and stir constantly until everything is combined. Set aside to cool for about 10 minutes then pour into a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the sour cream, then fold the flours and egg mix through the chocolate batter. Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 1.5 hours (or until a skewer can be inserted and comes out a little crumbly).

Allow the cake to cool completely before icing with the ganache.

Ganache
175g dark chocolate
125mL thickened cream 
2 x bags m&m's (to decorate)

In a small saucepan over a medium heat, stir the chocolate and cream until melted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool and thicken. When ganache is spreadable, pour over cake and cover the top and sides with the icing. Finally, decorate to your heart is content. ENJOY!