A soft chocolate sponge cake topped a fudgy 3 ingredient icing.; this is chocolate indulgence at its best! Throw on some sprinkles for the ultimate celebration cake, or just if you’re feeling a little fancy. uares
For this chocolate cake I opted for light brown soft sugar. This helps to provide a more fudgy flavour and intensifies the richness of the chocolate. As with any chocolate cake, I always say that the amount of chocolate you add is completely up to you and customisable. Feel free to add more or less cocoa powder depending on your taste and preference.
I usually bake this in a square tin, which creates about 6 servings. The first step when making this cake is to cream the butter and sugar together. Then add in eggs, flour and milk before adding your cocoa powder. However, if you’re a little short on time then you can add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix well until everything is thoroughly combined. The end result is going to be the same.
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This fudgy chocolate icing is made from only 3 simple ingredients: cocoa powder, icing sugar and water. All you do is combine icing sugar and cocoa powder in a small bowl, add in water a small amount at a time. Stir with a spoon until you have a smooth runny consistency and pour on top of your cake. I only add a little bit of water as I like to keep it quite thick, but still able to ‘run’ and cover the cake. squares
The recipe below creates quite a dark, fudgy, chocolatey icing. However if you like something a little lighter than feel free to reduce the amount of cocoa powder used. If you are choosing to use sprinkles, you want to add these to the cake as soon as you apply the icing. The icing needs to be quite wet to act like glue and keep the sprinkles in place. squares
With any chocolate recipe that asks for cocoa powder I would always recommend buying the best quality cocoa powder that you can, and always opt for cocoa powder over hot chocolate powder. It adds a better, stronger flavour to your bake and better quality powders are often easier to blend it and don’t leave any grainy textures in the cake. squares
This recipe is best when slightly warm (this can be lightly warmed in a microwave for roughly 30 seconds), with a bit of cream poured on top. When it’s heated slightly the chocolate goes all gooey and the icing melts and the whole thing becomes even more delicious! As the cake is quite rich, the cream helps to cut through the chocolate.
Ingredients
- CAKE:
- 6 oz / 170 g Butter
- 3 oz / 85 g Light Brown Soft Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 6 oz / 170 g Self Raising Flour
- 3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Milk
- ICING:
- 100 g / 3.5 oz Icing Sugar
- 3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- Water
- Sprinkles, for decoration, optional
- Cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180*c/350*f/Gas Mark 4/160*c Fan Oven.
- Line a square baking tin and set aside.
- Place the sugar and margarine into a bowl and using an electric mixer beat together until light and fluffy.
- Add the self raising flour, eggs and milk to the mixture and blend until fully combined.
- Then stir through the cocoa powder until fully combined and spoon the mixture into your prepared tin.
- Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until light and fluffy. You can tell it’s ready when it springs back when lightly pressed. You could also insert a skewer into the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, then the cake is ready.
- Once ready, remove from the oven.
- Leave to cool in the tin for roughly 5-10 minutes, before turning onto a wire rack.
- Once cool, turn the cake upside down so the top is now the bottom. If the cake has risen a lot then you may need to cut the top of the cake off so that it is flat .Trim the sides of the cake so that you have straight edges.
- Make the icing by adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder to a small bowl. Add water a little at a time until you have a smooth mixture. If it becomes too runny add a little extra icing sugar. If it’s too thick add a little extra water.
- Pour over the cake, ensuring that it covers the whole cake. You can use a butter knife or the back of a spoon to help spread it.
- If using sprinkles, now is the time to add them to the top of the cake.
- Once the icing has dried cut the cake into 6 squares. This is delicious warm on the same day, with some cream poured on top. Store any leftovers in an airtight container and store in cool dry place.
Notes
Best enjoyed warm with some cream poured on top. You can warm this lightly in the oven for roughly 15 seconds to help make it gooey and delicious!
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