This simple chocolate cake still impresses friends and is a popular choice for birthdays. My favourite part of this recipe is licking the spoon of the chocolate icing – heaven!!
Ingredients
2 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp boiling water
225g margarine
225g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
225g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
275g plain chocolate
75g unsalted butter
Sweets to decorate
Method:
1. Sift the cocoa into a mug and measure in the boiling water. Mix until fully blended and leave to cool.
2. Cream together the margarine and sugar. Mix in the eggs, sift the flour and baking powder and stir until combined.
3. Add the cooled cocoa mix and fold through the cake mixture.
4. Divide between two 20cm cake tins (greased and base lined) and bake in the oven at 180*C for around 25 minutes.
5. Once cooked, remove the cakes from the oven. Leave to cool of a few minutes in the tins. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes and transfer onto a cooling rack.
For the icing:
1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once fully melted stir well and leave to cool for 5 minutes or until it has reached a spreadable consistency.
2. Sandwich the two cakes together using the chocolate icing. Then spread the remaining icing over the sides and top of the cake. I used a bowl of hot water to heat a table knife to use to create a smooth finish with my icing but you could use a fork to create tiny spikes or a pattern of your choice.
3. Top with decorations of your choice. I’ve used giant chocolate buttons around the sides, and smarties and mini chocolate stars (from Morrisons) on the top.
iloveweekendbaking 