Chocolate Easter treat

The Step Up group at Carrickfergus Cookery School, Carrick YMCA, made this amazing chocolate cake with a lovely glossy chocolate ganache icing! Using an all in one method, it is so easy to make and the top tips are to make sure the eggs and butter are at room temperature and not cold from the fridge, and don’t beat the mixture for longer than 2 minutes! We decorated ours with Cadbury’s mini eggs-mmmmm!

Chocolate cake

For the chocolate icing:

3 large eggs

175g self-raising flour

175g caster sugar

175g softened butter

1½ level tsp baking powder

40g cocoa powder

4 tbsp boiling water

A little icing sugar

150ml (5fl oz) double cream

150g (5oz) plain chocolate, broken into pieces

4 tbsp apricot jam

You’ll also need: 2 x 17cm (7 in) deep sandwich tins, greased and lined with non-stick baking paper

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

2. Beat together eggs, flour, caster sugar, butter and baking powder until smooth in a large mixing bowl. Do not over beat.

3. Put cocoa in separate mixing bowl, and add the water a little at a time to make a stiff paste. Add to cake mixture.

4. Turn into the prepared tins, level top and bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 mins, or until shrinking away from the sides of the tin and springy to the touch.

5. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn on to a wire rack to become completely cold before icing.

6. To make icing: measure cream and chocolate into a bowl and melt over a pan of hot water over a low heat, or gently in the microwave for 1 min (600w microwave). Stir until melted, then set aside to cool a little and to thicken up.

7. To ice cake: spread jam on the top of each cake. Spread half of icing on the top of jam on one cakes, then lay the other on top, sandwiching them together.

8. Use remaining icing to ice cake in a swirl pattern. Dust with icing sugar to serve.