Chocolate Buttercream Cake

Chocolate Buttercream Cake 

Celebrate #worldchocolateday with this scrumptious chocolaty easy-bake cake recipe... I Love Chocolate!

Ingredients

Cake 

• 175g Unsalted Butter (softened, plus extra for greasing)
• 175g Golden Caster Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs
• 50g Cocoa Powder
• 100g Self-Raising Flour
• 1-2 Tsp Milk 

Buttercream Icing 

• 100g Dark Chocolate
• 200g Unsalted Butter (softened)
• 400g Icing Sugar 
• 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• Milk (to loosen)

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins with baking parchment. Use a handheld electric whisk or a freestanding mixer to beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until creamy and light in colour. Then add 1 egg, still mixing. 
• Sieve the cocoa, flour and a pinch of salt into another bowl and add a third of that to your wet ingredients. Once combined, add the second egg and another third of the flour mixture and work that in. Then add the last egg and remaining flour and beat until you have a smooth thick batter. If the batter is stiff, stir in a splash of milk to loosen it.
• Divide the mixture between the tins and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20-25 mins until springy to the touch. Take out of the oven and leave in the tins for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the buttercream by melting the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. (Do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the surface of the water.) Allow to cool until the chocolate no longer feels hot to the touch.
• Beat the butter in a bowl until soft, then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the vanilla extract and beat again.
• Fold in the melted chocolate until completely incorporated (add a few drops of milk if the mixture is a little stiff).
• You can now spread the icing all over your cake with a spatula or the back of the spoon. Put in the fridge for 30 mins to cool and ready to serve! Delicious!