Day 28 - Chocolate Birthday Cake

I LOVE this cake because it's chocolatey but doesn't have that whole palaver of having to melt chocolate. I believe this is the perfect recipe for a child's first cake that they make on their own. It is a Royal Easter Show Award winning recipe that I got out of Delicious magazine a few years back. I can't remember it's owner, but I do know it was a bloke.

2 cups SR flour
2/3 cocoa powder
1tsp instant coffee powder
185g butter - v soft but not melted
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 cup water

- Preheat 170C
- Grease a 26cm round tin, or a 9x19cm loaf tins or patty cake pans
- Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and pale.
- Bake for 1 hour or until cooked. Cool
Ice with chocolate butter icing or lemon icing.

Chocolate icing (quadruple for the cake in the picture you see above)
1 1/2 tblsp cocoa powder
1 tblsp milk
75g soft butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine all together in an KitchenAid or equivalent and beat until pale, light and fluffy.
When the cake is completely cool, cut it in half
Put about half the icing in the middle of the cut cake, smooth but not right to the edge, put top half of cake on it, cover with icing and decorate according to your personal preference. I literally 'dropped' handfuls of Smarties, Jaffas and Freckles onto it.

Eat EAT EAT!