As well as the baking to take to their Gran’s house they also baked a chocolate cake to have for their tea.
‘Chocolate & Raspberry Birthday Cake’
You will need:
2 tbsp cocoa powder, heaped
5 tbsp warm water
200g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
200g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
12 raspberries for cake mix
Butter to grease tin
Rich Chocolate Butter Icing to decorate (see recipe below)
Chocolate button sweets & extra raspberries to decorate
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170oC/Gas Mark 5.
Grease and line two round cake tins (20cm or 8”) with a little butter and parchment paper.
Make up the cocoa with the warm water in a cup and set aside to cool a little until needed.
Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together.
Sift the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl and set aside.
Beat the eggs in a bowl and add about a third of the beaten eggs to the butter and sugar mix, followed by about a third of the flour. Continue adding the next third of egg and then flour, alternating until all are added.
Mix in 12 roughly chopped raspberries, then add the cooled cocoa and mix well.
Divide the mixture between the two cake tins.
Bake the cakes for 30–35 minutes, testing with a skewer to see if it is baked – if any wet mixture clings to the skewer return to the oven for a further 5 minutes and test again.
Remove the cakes from the tins and cool on wire rack tray before icing.
Fill the centre with chocolate icing and sliced berries and smooth more chocolate icing all over the top and sides before decorating with more berries and chocolate buttons.
Tip: If you do not have time to make icing just sandwich the cake together with some jam and dust over the top with icing sugar.
Rich Chocolate Butter Icing
You will need:
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa content)
250g icing sugar
25g unsalted butter (approximately 1 heaped tbsp)
3 tbsp hot water
Method:
Break up the chocolate into a bowl and microwave it on low power for 1 to 2 minutes until melted.
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in the melted chocolate.
Add the butter and hot water and beat well with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Hannah happily licked the spoon clean of any remaining icing and later helped Eva packing for the children’s holiday on the farm.
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