Easiest Chocolate Cake Ever

I have a great recipe that impresses all those chocolate cake lovers amongst us and the best thing about it is that it's sooooo easy. I've been making this recipe since I first started baking whilst at home with my two little boys about 30 years ago (is it really 30 years? it feels like yesterday).

Anyway, the cake became my signature dish, and my BIL JC's favourite cake. The recipe made an appearance in my sister J's handmade and bound family cookbook - a limited edition of 5. Made for birthday's, family gatherings and just for us, I've lost count of the number of times this cake has been baked in my kitchens over the years and to date it's been a success every time - now that is tempting fate! So here's the recipe...


Easiest (and Best) Chocolate Cake Ever
Ingredients
For the cake
4ozs golden castor sugar
4ozs softened butter or soft margarine
4ozs self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1oz cocoa mixed to a paste with 2 tbsps hot water

For the icing
2ozs butter
1 tbsp cocoa
2tbsps hot water
10ozs icing sugar, sieved

Method
Set the oven to 180C and grease and line an 8" cake tin (or 2 x 7" sandwich tins).

Place all the ingredients for the cake in a food processor (or large bowl and mix with electric hand mixer) and thoroughly combine. Put the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin(s). Bake in the oven for 30 minutes (or 25 minutes if using the 7" tins). Check the cake is baked by pressing lightly in the middle, the cake should spring back. Remove from the tin(s) and cool on a wire rack.

To make the fudge filling and topping, put the butter and cocoa in a large saucepan on a gentle heat until the butter has melted and the cocoa is combined with it. Remove from the heat and add 2 tbsp of hot (not boiling) water to the pan with a little of the icing sugar and beat together (I do this by hand with a wooden spoon, though you could use an electric mixer). Continue to add the icing sugar, beating together vigourously between each addition.

When the cake is cool cut it through the middle to make two cakes (no need to do this if you've used the 7" tins as you already have two cakes) and sandwich together with about two thirds of the fudge icing. Put the remaining icing on the top of the cake and spread over evenly using a palette knife. To make a smooth finish, wet the palette knife with cold water as you spread the icing.

The cake will keep for a few days in an airtight cake tin, that's if you can resist eating all of it at one sitting! As you can see from the photograph we're not very good at resisting.