I made a cake last night for Thanksgiving dinner. My wife's grandmother used to make a chocolate cake that had a "tunnel" of fudge running through the center. She stopped making it in the early 1980's and more recent attempts failed because one of the ingredients was no longer available. About 3 years ago, I read an article in the NYTimes about that specific cake. It used a canned frosting as a major component, and it was discontinued. The article explained how to make it from scratch. It isn't my favorite cake by a long-shot, but it is nice to be able to recreate a family memory that appeared to be gone forever. So, I present the Tunnel Of Fudge cake.
My advice - use a stand mixer. If you don't have one, make sure you are using a huge bowl for the hand mixer. Things will fly all over the place otherwise.
The end result is definitely unique - there is a slightly hard cake shell about 1/2 to 1 inch thick and the center is a gooey fudge.
Here's the link to the article
Recipe
2 1/2 cups roasted walnuts or walnuts and pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
5/8 teaspoon salt
Nonstick cooking spray
1 1/4 cups butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large egg yolks
4 large eggs
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 1/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder
1. Place a heavy baking sheet or pizza stone on a shelf in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. On a large baking sheet, roast nuts in the oven for 10 minutes. Keep watch that they do not burn. Pour into a bowl, and add butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Toss well and set aside.
3. Generously apply nonstick cooking spray to the inside of a large Bundt cake pan.
4. In a mixer, beat butter to soften until it becomes fluffy. Add sugar, then the brown sugar and continue to beat until airy. While beating, if the bowl does not feel cool, place it in the freezer for five minutes, then resume beating.
5. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon salt, vanilla and vegetable oil.
6. Beat in two egg yolks. Crack the four whole eggs into a large mixing bowl. With a small knife, cut yolks and barely stir the eggs, minimally blending the whites and yolks.
7. With the mixer on the lowest speed, beat the eggs into the batter in three batches. Mix in confectioners' sugar and the cocoa.
8. In a large mixing bowl, stir flour and walnuts together. Then with a spatula stir the flour-nut mixture into the batter. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan.
9. Bake for 45 minutes. You cannot use the toothpick test because the cake contains so much sugar that the center will not set but will remain a tunnel-of-fudge. You are dependent on a correct oven temperature and the 45-minute cooking time.
10. When removed from the oven, the cake will have a runny fudge core with an air pocket above the fudge. About 30 minutes after taking the cake out of the oven, press the inside and outside edge of the cake bottom down all the way around to minimize the air pocket. Let the cake, still in the pan, cool on a rack for two to three hours. Invert the cake onto a platter and let cool completely.