Evil Genius Cake

Written By Adam Miller

Sometimes you stumble upon a cake that's so intriguingly delicious, you have to cancel all your plans, make it immediately and find as many people as you can to share it with!

This cake from Ben Shewry literally oozes indulgence and is surprisingly straightforward to make. A simple olive oil sponge on the bottom, and an unctuous blondie on the top.

It has layers. It has texture. It brings the DRAMA! It has everything you'd expect from an evil genius.

For my version here I added lemon zest and juice to brighten the cake, and some saffron to the blondie because a cake like this deserves the most expensive spice in the world!

My evil genius enjoys a touch of flamboyance. My version of Ben’s recipe is below, and you can check out the reel on instagram here.

Note - make and bake layer 1 before starting on layer 2.

INGREDIENTS

Layer 1 - Lemon Olive Oil Sponge

  • 155g plain flour

  • 190g caster sugar

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon bicarb soda

  • Pinch of salt

  • 210g milk

  • 70g olive oil

  • 1 large egg

  • juice and zest of 1 lemon

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Layer 2 - Saffron-Infused Blondie

  • 260g plain flour

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • 270g unsalted butter

  • 250g good-quality white chocolate

  • 3 pinches of saffron threads

  • 4 large eggs

  • 410g brown sugar

  • 10g vanilla paste

  • Sea salt flakes to finish

METHOD

Start by baking layer 1 - the Lemon Olive Oil Cake

  • Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 22 or 23 -centimetre springform cake tin with baking paper.

  • Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

  • In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients and whisk until smooth.

  • Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

  • Pour cake batter into the prepared tin. Place in the oven on a middle-level rack and bake for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. It should be slightly sticky when the skewer is inserted into middle of cake.

  • Once cooked, remove cake from the oven and cool for 10 minutes but don’t remove from the cake tin. shower cap or plastic wrap and leave to prove on the bench for about an hour. Then place the bowl in the fridge overnight to prove.

Now start layer 2 - the Saffron-Infused Blondie

  • Turn the oven up to 190 degrees C.

  • Whisk the dry ingredients (other than the sea salt flakes) together in a bowl.

  • Gently melt the butter, saffron and chocolate together using the double boiler method. This involves placing a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Be sure to continuously stir the mixture until it’s melted, and not to heat past 50 degrees otherwise the mix will split.

  • Mix the eggs and brown sugar together (with a stand mixer, hand beaters or a whisk) until well combined, but do not whip. Drizzle the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture while gently mixing.

  • Add the dry ingredients into the chocolate and sugar mixture and mix until smooth and well combined. Pour blondie mix onto the top of previously baked cake, smooth the top, and sprinkle the sea salt flakes over the top.

  • Place the cake tin back in the oven on the centre rack and bake for 40 minutes. It should be set on top but quite gooey on the inside.

  • Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the tin for at least 45 minutes before transferring to your serving platter. Slice while it's still warm for that dramatic ooze!

You can find the original recipe that inspired this version here - https://www.attica.com.au/attica-digest/recipe-the-evil-genius

Adam Miller
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