The big baking session begins

Cut up and ready for the cake sale.

I am on a baking mission this week. I made two banana cakes yesterday and sent one in to nursery for their snack time treat. I made a big slab of rich chocolate cake today for the cake sale at school tomorrow, as a practice for the cake I shall be making on saturday for my friend's little boy's birthday party. The chocolate cake is one I make for really special occasions, so those who get a bit at the cake sale tomorrow are very lucky! I don't make it very often as it is super-sweet and rich and uses up a lot of my chocolate supply. It is based on a chocolate brownie recipe which is heavenly in itself, I totally recommend making them too!

Rich chocolate cake ingredients

275g plain chocolate (I use these)
275g soya margarine
180g chocolate chips (white and "milk" or just "milk" - you can buy both from Plamil too.)
175g plain flour
slightly heaped tbsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
200g caster sugar
125g light brown soft sugar


Method

How the top looks when it is cooked and ready to cool.

Melt the margarine and chocolate over a pan of simmering water to melt.
Measure out flour and baking powder and set aside.
Mix together the eggs, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl, then add the melted chocolate and mix well.
Add the flour and baking powder and mix well. The mix will be very gloopy.
Finally add the chocolate chips and mix, then pour the mix into a 7" square tin that has been greased and lined with baking paper.
Bake for around an hour at 170c, don't be tempted to turn the heat up to speed up the process, as the cake will burn before the middle is cooked.

Once the cake was cooked and cooled (it takes ages to cool as it is so dense) I made up a dairy-free cream cheese icing with the following ingredients:

1 tbsp dairy-free cream cheese (available on the high street in Holland and Barrett)
1 tbsp soya margarine
2tsp cocoa powder
icing sugar to make a thick but spreadable icing.

I spread this on the cake and sprinkled stars on top before cutting it into squares with a bread knife. I started off with pieces that are much too big, I think it should be cut into 25 squares. If I had one, I'd make it in a bigger tin and have less chunky pieces.