Here is the recipe for the Cherry Ripe Mud Cake that I baked for Andrew for his birthday. It was passed on from the Darbys, Andrew's cousins in Ballarat. I'm generously sharing it with the world. There was quite an interest on twitter for the recipe.

Cherry Ripe Mud Cake

250g unsalted butter, chopped 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder 400ml coconut milk 200g dark chocolate, chopped coarsely 2 cups caster sugar ¾ cup self raising flour 1 cup plain flour ¼ cup cocoa powder 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla essence 3 x 85g Cherry Ripe bars, chopped coarsely

Pre-heat oven to slow (150°C / 300°F). Grease deep 22cm-round cake pan. Line base and inside with baking paper.

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add coffee, coconut milk, chocolate and sugar. Stir over heat until chocolate melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to room temperature.

Whisk in sifted dry ingredients, then eggs and essence. Stir in two bars of the cherry ripe. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Top with remaining cherry ripe. Bake in slow oven for about 1h 45m. Stand cake for 10 minutes. Turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.

Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar, with cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on the side.

Baker's Notes:

• I have a fan-forced oven and I baked it for 1 hour and 20 minutes in a 150°C oven. Tara, Andrew's cousin, bakes it in her fan-forced oven for 2 hours at 140°C.
• The actual recipe calls for chocolate frosting on top of the cake and chocolate panels on the side of the cake. I think you might go into a sugar-induced coma if you ate a piece of that cake. It's already a very rich cake so I was advised to just go with a light dusting of icing sugar on top of the cake. Let me know if you want the chocolate frosting / chocolate panel addendum to the recipe.

What is a Cherry Ripe?
Our non-Australian readers probably haven't heard of a Cherry Ripe. A Cherry Ripe is an Australian chocolate bar made by Cadbury. Its filling consists of pieces of cherry and coconut and the bar is covered in dark chocolate. It's Australia's oldest chocolate bar. In London, you can buy Cherry Ripes at the Australia Shop at Convent Garden. They cost £1.60 but they are worth every penny.

I'm entrusting to you fushies this brownie recipe which makes the world's yummiest brownies. This recipe comes from the book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey which I originally discovered on Posie Gets Cozy. I've baked this recipe so often that the book now falls open to the brownie page.

In these brownies, there are no nuts to confuse your sweet tooth. Just chocolately, buttery goodness. You might faint when you see the slab of butter that goes into this recipe (and only half a cup of flour!). They aren't good for you, but they are goooooooood (especially with icecream and caramel sauce.)

Sugar-Crusted Brownies
makes 12 brownies

227 grams / ½ pound of butter 1 cup of sugar (plus extra for the muffin tins) 170 grams / 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate 85 grams / 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate 3 large eggs 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract ½ cup of unbleached all-purpose flour 1 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt note: see The Wiki's chocolate classification section for info about the different types of chocolate.

Grease all of the cups of a standard 12-cup muffin tin. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of sugar into the greased cups and shake and tap around to cover the bottom and sides of the cups completely with a thick coat of sugar. Tap out any excess sugar.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 175°C / 350°F.

Combine the butter, semisweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate together in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove from the microwave and stir until completely melted. If the chocolate is not completely melted, continue to microwave for 30-second intervals and stir until smooth.

In a large bowl, gently whisk together the eggs, 1 cup sugar and vanilla until just combined. Stir the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture just until combined. Let cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the chocolate mixture and fold in until just combined.

Spoon about ¼ cup of batter into each of the prepared muffin cups. (If you run out of batter before you fill all the cups, make sure to wipe out the butter and sugar of any empty cups before baking any brownies.)

Bake until the tops of the brownies are firm and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a brownie cup comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, 20 to 25 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool.