Gorgeous chocolate cake

At the risk of sounding like a freak, I don't like chocolate cake that's too, too dark chocolatey, so last week, when making a cake for a friend's birthday, I tweaked a Rachel Allen version to get it just the right choccy amount and then added my own frosting which I then covered entirely with sprinkled Flake. I deliberately went with her basic recipe to adapt myself because the amount of sugar she uses is relatively low and these days I'm off super-sweet stuff. I've never been a fan of dark chocolate, so used really good quality Green & Blacks milk chocolate in the batter - you melt the chocolate in milk, so I imagine if you were using dark chocolate, this would make it ever so slightly lighter in taste, while milk-chocolate-melted-in-milk adds a really lovely creaminess. Instead of using Rachel's suggestion of chocolate butter icing, I went for a just as rich, but less sugary, cream cheese chocolate frosting instead. I'll definitely be making this cake again... and again.... and again... enjoy!

For the cake
125g milk chocolate (or dark, if that's your preference)
3 tbsp milk
150g butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
200g plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder (I used hot chocolate powder and it worked fabulously)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the cream cheese frosting
I don't really have a set recipe of measurements, because it all just depends on how creamy and thick you want it.. I tend to use around 125g cream cheese (low fat if you want to balance out the guilt) with 90g butter to begin with, whip together, and then add icing sugar slowly as you go until you get the consistency you want. I then threw in a few teaspoons of hot chocolate powder and mixed really well.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and butter and line two large sandwich tins with greaseproof paper.
Break the chocolate into chunks and place in a heatproof bowl with the milk over a saucepan of gently simmering water until the chocolate has melted - don't let it over melt, as that's when it starts to get dryish in texture.
Beat the butter until soft, add the caster sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and then fold in the melted chocolate.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda and fold in gently to mix. Divide the mix between the two tins and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.
Then take the cakes out, let them cool for a few minutes in their tins and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Whip up the cream cheese frosting (you could add vanilla essence to it and keep it as vanilla frosting if you wanted a chocolate-vanilla cake) and then spread a gorgeous thick layer on the bottom of one cake (it's easier to sandwich the cakes bottom-to-bottom), then another lovely thick layer all over the top.
Sprinkle all over with chocolate powder or a crumbled up Flake bar (brilliant for embellishments). Serve on up - big slices all round!

I had frosting left over - so did a quick batch of chocolate cupcakes with lovely frosting on top too... yum.

Also, please don't forget, that if you want to order some deliciously exquisite Lavender or Rose shortbread gift boxes for Mother's Day, place your orders by the end of Tuesday.

Have a lovely weekend
H xx