I wondered if my CC friends from Australia and surrounding parts, would be able to tell me the difference between a mud cake and the American basic cake. I understand it is more dense,however, is it moist as well? Additionally, can you use a regular filling in it, such as mousse? I am going to be attempting my first Wonky cake (Planet cake style) and I want it to be filled but stable, and moist. Thank you any and all who share their knowlege on this subject!
Ski ("
Mud cake is very dense and moist, you don't try to incorporate air when you make it so it is not light - imagine pound cake but with lots of chocolate in it. It is also quite heavy so might squash out a softer filling. It is perfect for filling with ganache which also makes it ideal for carving and making topsy turvys.
Also it is usually baked in a 3" deep pan and bakes up to be about 3-3.5" tall - you can then slice it into 3 layers and fill with ganache giving you a 4" high cake.
The basic ingredients of a dark chocolate mud cake are: butter, sugar and dark chocolate. Vanilla extract. Eggs. Plain cake flour and self-raising flour (ie overall a lesser amount of rising agent per gram of flour). Cocoa plus water or milk and/or buttermilk. (ther are many variations but thats essentially all thats in them).
You can make white, caramel, raspberry, strawberry, cherry ripe (dark choc and cherry)...there are many ways to jazz it up in flavour.
As Bunsen said - the important thing is the carvable solid texture. The taste is rich and dense AND moist if baked right 
Some of my brides do not want the cake filled with ganache and so you can just have a solid cake with ganache over the outside under the fondant or even just fondant on the mudcake. Or buttercream - whatever.
Its just your filling which needs to be firm like ganache or it'll ooze out. And you can make white chocolate ganache in many different colours and flavours too if you like.
HTH.
The basic ingredients of a dark chocolate mud cake are: butter, sugar and dark chocolate. Vanilla extract. Eggs. Plain cake flour and self-raising flour (ie overall a lesser amount of rising agent per gram of flour). Cocoa plus water or milk and/or buttermilk. (ther are many variations but thats essentially all thats in them).
You can make white, caramel, raspberry, strawberry, cherry ripe (dark choc and cherry)...there are many ways to jazz it up in flavour.
As Bunsen said - the important thing is the carvable solid texture. The taste is rich and dense AND moist if baked right
Some of my brides do not want the cake filled with ganache and so you can just have a solid cake with ganache over the outside under the fondant or even just fondant on the mudcake. Or buttercream - whatever.
Its just your filling which needs to be firm like ganache or it'll ooze out. And you can make white chocolate ganache in many different colours and flavours too if you like.
HTH.
Just MY opinion... but I would NEVER consider using a mousse filling in a Madhatter (topsy-turvy/wonky what ever we want to call them)
Australian Madhatters are not done like the tutorial here (carve flat and set next tier in.
The reason why we use ganache is twofold :-
1. It acts like reinforcement (similar to the reo metal grid in concrete) - makes your cake structurally more stable - which in turn enables the acute angles and sharp edges - we normally torte the cake into three layers with ganache - let set and then carve.... ganache all over - set again and cover with fondant.
Ganache will seal your cake and lengthen its keeping qualities. A mudcake could be baked on a Sunday/Monday - Ganached and decorated during the week - for the following Saturday wedding - it will last for approx 4-5 days AFTER the event - making it a really good alternative to fruitcake. Australians still have not embraced the American style of wedding cakes and mudcakes are nearly 80% of my business
2. It allows for the cake to be cut into similar sized portions with everybody getting a nice layer of yummy ganache with their cake.
If you are interested in the mudcake recipe - here is the link
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/author/ApplegumKitchen
Thank you all so much for all this information! I love the look of the wonky cakes, and knew there had to be some unusual thing just b/c of the extremeness of the designs.
So basically ganache is it for the filling? As it were Pam, yours was the recipe I planned on trying out! haha Do you also have a ganache recipe you prefer?
Taya has a tutorial which I wanted to try out as well: the upside down method. I'm pretty nervous , but plan on diving in tomorrow, wish me luck on my trial run! And thanks again to all of you for such a thorough reply 
Thank you all so much for all this information! I love the look of the wonky cakes, and knew there had to be some unusual thing just b/c of the extremeness of the designs.
So basically ganache is it for the filling? As it were Pam, yours was the recipe I planned on trying out! haha Do you also have a ganache recipe you prefer?
Taya has a tutorial which I wanted to try out as well: the upside down method. I'm pretty nervous , but plan on diving in tomorrow, wish me luck on my trial run! And thanks again to all of you for such a thorough reply
did you do the tutorial of taya? Im planning to do it. Is there any tips you can offer?
Thanks margi
Actually Taya's tutorial is really put together good. About the only thing I could add , is if you are using ganache to coat before the fondant, realize it is easier to use as soon as it sits up. Slightly pliable is easier to spread, and be sure to keep it covered always, the air plays havoc with it otherwise. You are going to love it, so much fun!!!!
Good Luck! ("
Actually Taya's tutorial is really put together good. About the only thing I could add , is if you are using ganache to coat before the fondant, realize it is easier to use as soon as it sits up. Slightly pliable is easier to spread, and be sure to keep it covered always, the air plays havoc with it otherwise. You are going to love it, so much fun!!!!
Good Luck! ("
can you explain further what you mean by the air plays havoc? On the whole cake, or just the ganache?
Thanks neighbor! 
(I live in the next town over to your east.)
If you don't keep it covered (the ganache) it gets really dense like fudge, and becomes more difficult to use. Derby?
Oh so the air creates havoc on the cake? How long after you bake it do you have to get it covered before it turns to fudge?
And if that is the case, do you get dense cupcakes when you use it for that?
No, what I mean is once you follow the basic steps to thee ganache, and it is ready for icing the cake, keep it covered as opposed to leaving the bowl uncovered as you ice. The exposure to the air hardens it. You can always rewarm it to soften it back up, however that just adds time to the whole process. Hope that makes sense.
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