Recipes by Barbara Northwood

Chocolate celebration cake

Jul 28 12:48pm

Prep Time	Cook Time	Serves
1 hour	1 hour	12-14

Ingredients

1 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup instant coffee granules
2/3 cup hot water
375g unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups caster sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups plain flour
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup milk
400g dark chocolate, chopped
600ml tub thickened cream
1/4 cup icing sugar mixture
Chocolate curls and extra cocoa powder, to decorate

1 Grease two 22cm round cake pans. Line bases and sides with baking paper.

2 Combine cocoa, coffee and water in a bowl. Beat butter and sugar in electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in cocoa mixture then combined sifted flours and milk in three batches. Divide among pans.

3 Cook in a moderate oven (180C), swapping pans halfway through, for 1 hour, or until cooked. Stand in pans for 5 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

4 Stir chocolate and cup of the cream in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until smooth. Cool to a spreadable consistency. Beat remaining cream and icing sugar until peaks form.

5 To assemble, split cakes in half. Sandwich together with a third of the chocolate mixture in between layers. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Spread cake with cream, smooth with a large palette knife. Decorate with chocolate curls. Dust with extra sifted cocoa.