THE "BAD BOY" CHOCOLATE CAKE

Hello my lovely readers

This chocolate cake can only be referred to as the "bad boy" in my house. This beauty is just under 600kcal per slice! Normally I wouldn't put such a monstrosity on my blog but this is by far the nicest cake I have ever tasted! Plus it's from my new magazine and about the only thing I can actually make until I get the rest of my stuff!

I did change a few things in the recipe, so I will include my 2p worth in the end :) You don't have to listen to it though but I would love your comments about the cake! :)

Enjoy my dears and thanks for reading! Thanks, Tanya x

THE "BAD BOY" CHOCOLATE CAKE
- from Cake Decorating magazine, 1st issue

INGREDIENTS

 CAKE MIX:
- 225g unsalted butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 175g self-raising flour
- 50g cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp warm water, optional (if mixture is dry)

BUTTERCREAM ICING:
- 300g icing sugar
- 25g cocoa powder
- 175g butter, softened
- 2 tbsp milk, optional (if icing is a bit dry)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD (CAKE MIX)

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4 / 180C / 350F

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating them into the mixture. Sift half the flour and cocoa into the bowl and fold it in. Sift the rest of the flour and cocoa in well. Add water if the mixture is dry.

Pour the mixture into your greased cake tin and smooth it down with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Do the usual test to check if the cake is ready by putting a toothpick through the centre and seeing if it comes out clean or not. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack while we make the icing.

METHOD (BUTTERCREAM ICING)

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl and add the softened butter. Mix them together, then add the milk and vanilla extract. Mix all the ingredients together well until pale, soft and fluffy. If your icing is a bit too dry, then add some more milk.

Remember though that you can always add to the mixture but can't take out, so rather put in a splash of milk to begin with!

PUT THE ICING ON YOUR COOLED CAKE AND ENJOY!

FINAL SAY

 Ok so... As I said, I did change a few things slightly but nothing major.

Firstly, I added the cocoa powder into the buttercream icing to make it chocolate icing. This is why I mentioned the additional milk as it may make it a bit dry. If you keep adding a little milk each time, then it will go to good consistency. The recipe said water but I feel that water takes the taste away, milk, in my opinion, keeps it's creaminess.

Secondly, the time it took in the oven. The recipe was originally for 2 cakes which take 15-20 minutes in the oven. I am a terrible baker clearly as I don't own 2 cake tins that are the same size so I just made one. This obviously needs more time in the oven so it took me 25 minutes in a fan-assisted oven. So it may take longer in a normal oven. If you do want to do 2 cakes, then you will just make the same amount of icing and just put some in between the 2 cakes before placing one on top of each other!

And lastly, serve at room temperature with some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on the side and enjoy!!

Nutritional info: 1/10th slice: 597 kcal - 35.2g fat - 258.4mg sodium - 65.4g carbs - 5.7g protein