Celebration chocolate cake

150g self-raising flour

180g soft butter

3 large Fairburn’s Lincolnshire free range eggs

3 tbsp boiling water

85g drinking chocolate (not cocoa)

CHOCOLATE BUTTER ICING:

60g butter 100g icing sugar 15g drinking chocolate 1 tsp instant coffee, melted in a little boiling water

CHOCOLATE GANACHE:

35g unsalted butter 100g plain chocolate 35g caster sugar 50ml double cream

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Put all of the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl, beat together well for 2 mins.

2. Put into 2 x 18cm greased and bottom lined cake tins and bake for about 30 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Remove from the oven and turn onto a wire rack.

3. To make the butter icing, cream the butter to soften, add the icing sugar and drinking chocolate, and beat all the ingredients together until light in texture. Finally beat in the instant coffee. 4. Spread the chocolate butter icing on one of the cakes and place the other half on top.

5. To make the ganache, melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water (the bowl shouldn’t touch the water). Add the sugar, stirring constantly to help it melt. Take it off the heat and add the cream. If it starts to split, beat like mad with a wooden spoon. When smooth, leave to cool and firm up and then spread over the cake.