The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe!

Ideal for celebrating International Chocolate Cake Day, how's that for a fantastic day to mark…?

Auds Tip:  As well as being a very simple recipe to make, this Chocolate cake is light and moist and keeps really well if you want to make it in advance.

It can be served as an afternoon tea cake, just simply decorated with icing, or used as a base for a more elaborate gateaux.

At a Glance:

• Perfect for Beginners
• Preparation:  15 to 20 minutes 
• Baking/cooking time: 1 hour  
• Suitable for vegetarians
• Serves:8

You’ll Need:

• Electric mixer makes it quicker and easier but possible to make by hand
• 1x deep sided 8” round tin or 2x shallow 8”tins (baking time will be reduced if you bake in 2 tins)

Ingredients:

• 150g Self Raising Flour
• 125g Castor Sugar
• Pinch Salt
• 3 heaped teaspoons Cocoa Powder
• 75g Soft Margarine
• 2 Eggs
• ¼ pint milk
• 1 generous tablespoon Syrup
• 1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Method:

1. Line the tin with greaseproof paper  and preheat oven to 150° C/ 300°F
2. Place all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and whisk on full speed for 3 minutes (start the mixer slowly for the first 30 seconds so you don’t end up wearing all the ingredients 😉 – and it is that easy!!
3. You may just want to scrape down the edges of the bowl half way through mixing to get all the outer ingredients combined thoroughly
4. Place mixture in the tin (or evenly between 2 shallow tins if that is your preference)
5. Bake for 1 hour (check after 50 mins with a skewer, it will come out clean when it is ready)
6. 2 shallower tins will take approx 35/40 mins but test in the same way with a skewer.
7. Allow to cool completely and use the icing below through the centre of the cake and on top

Icing:

Beat together (electric mixer with beater attachment is easiest) 150g Icing Sugar with 100g Butter until light and fluffy and then beat in 75g melted chocolate (80% cocoa solids). The chocolate wants to be warm but don’t overheat.

If you liked this recipe, there are plenty more recipes that i’d love you too see on the Valley Living page. Or if you fancy mixing it up a little here is one of my personal favourite from Nigella Lawson- ‘Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake’

And if you are interested in how ‘Chocolate Cake Day’ came about then click here for more information.