C.A.M. - Mud Cake Scratch-Off - Pam's Chocolate Mud Cake

So I've just finished wrapping up Pam's mud cake and thought I'd write down my thoughts on the last 2 criteria before I forget!

Ease of Making:
The recipe for Pam's mud cake isn't much different from Bluehue's mud cake but I do think that Pam's mud cake is a bit easier to make, simply because I don't have to leave the chocolate mixture to cool down for as long.
Bluehue's recipe states to leave the chocolate mixture to cool to room temperature, which took about an hour and even then could probably have done with another half hour to cool.

Pam's recipe simply needs to be left for 15 minutes just so it's not boiling hot when the rest of the ingredients are added. This was the perfect amount of time for me to preheat the oven, measure out and sift the rest of the ingredients, beat the eggs, set up the KitchenAid and put everything away.
I do wonder whether the sugar would have been better off added in the beginning so it dissolves over the stove with the chocolate, butter etc. I don't know if it would make much of a difference which stage the sugar dissolves in but adding it in the beginning would save a minute or two.
The recipe stated it made enough for a double quantity of 20cm round pans. There ended up being a very similar amount of batter as Bluehue's recipe made, so I decided just to use 1 3" high 10" pan, same as I used for Bluehue's cake. I did however decide to use a greased flower nail as a heating core in the center of the pan to help prevent the big dome and to make sure it cooked evenly. I realised afterwards that using the flower nail may change the results so I'll continue using a heating core in the rest of the mud cakes and just try to take it into consideration with Bluehue's cake when tasting it later.

Cost:
So Pam's mud cake ended up being one of the cheapest mud cakes from the scratch-off. I calculated that it cost me $6.46AUD to make. It's only a couple of dollars difference though so it really just comes down to the taste.

I forgot to take any other photos while making Pam's mud cake, sorry! But the final cake rose nicely, it was mostly level on top due to using the heating core but could probably still do with being leveled off. It looks slightly darker than Bluehue's cake but I don't know if that's simply because I'm comparing after Bluehue's cake has been frozen. It looks about the same size as Bluehue's cake, it rose slightly higher but without the huge dome on top so it probably works out pretty evenly. It still cracked across the top but not as badly as Bluehue's one did. However, that's nothing against Bluehue's cake since it's a normal characteristic of a mud cake.

So into the freezer it goes...