I've had one of those weeks - the kind where you wonder if attempting to cook is a good idea, as it's likely to end in a fire and/or trip to the hospital - I actually managed to set fire to a packet of butter while cooking a steak the other day. After flicking through a few cookbooks, I decided to try and make the caramel mudcake from the Australian Women's Weekly mini cookbook "baking favourites" - a surprisingly easy recipe that doesn't need a mixer. Ingredients 180g white eating chocolate, chopped 185g unsalted butter, chopped 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup golden syrup 1 cup milk 1 1/2 cups plain flour 1/2 cup self raising flour 2 eggs White chocolate ganache 1/2 cup cream 360g white eating chocolate, chopped Method

1. preheat oven to 160C (320F) / 140C (285F) fan forced. Grease a 22cm round cake pan and line with baking paper.
2. combine chocolate, butter, sugar, syrup and milk in a large saucepan; stir over low heat until smooth. Cool for 15 minutes.
3. whisk in sifted flours and eggs. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Cool cake in pan.
4. make white chocolate ganache: bring cream to the boil, remove from heat, add chocolate and stir until smooth. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
5. turn cake onto plate and spread with ganache.
6. mmm...tasty mudcake.

I didn't have as much chocolate left for the ganache as the recipe asked for (I started with a 375g pack of Nestle melts) but there was still plenty to cover the top of the cake. The end result was lighter than I expected, moist with a rich caramel flavour. The white chocolate ganache went well with the cake, as did some soft whipped cream. If you're after a no-fuss cake recipe that's a bit more interesting than a boring old sponge, give this one a go.