The Icing on The Cake Spain

Need to make a chocolate cake for a birthday party or special occasion? Well then this is the recipe for you. Even if you are not great at making cakes you will have no problem with this recipe. It is so easy and the result so delicious you will be using this recipe time and time again!

Decorate in different ways for different occasions!

Serves 16 (so bill says!!!)

250g unsalted butter, softened

440g sugar

4 eggs

250 ml milk

310g plain flour

5 tps baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsps cocoa powder

To decorate

Chocolate Icing

300g Icing sugar (confectioners sugar)

4 tbsps cocoa

2 tbsps softened unsalted butter

To Make

Preheat the oven to 180*c (350*F/Gas 4). Grease and line a 20 x 30cm (8×12 inch) cake tin.

Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, cocoapowder, and vanilla with electric beaters for about 8-10 mins until themixture is pale and well combined.

Pour into tin and bake for 40-45 mins or until a skewer poked in the middle comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 mins before transferring to a wire rack.

Ice with chocolate icing only when completely cool!

For the icing:

Sift together the icing sugar and cocoa.  Add the butter and 3-4tbsps of warm water and beat until smooth and fluffy, adding more water if necessary.

Decorating is up to you! You can leave it as it is or add sweetssuch as smarties or M&Ms for a kids party. Try our cake toppers ? they are edible images printed on a thin sheet of icing. All totally edible, printed with edible ink too. You can choose any image or a favourite photo or film star! Whatever you want.

Use the premade rolling icing and colour it yourself. Girlie pink always goes down well at a little girls party! Just omit the chocolate icing on the top and smear with apricot jam. Lift icing over your cake with the aid of a rolling pin. Smooth down and pop your cake topper ontop. Looks amazing!

For the boys avoid the pink and go for blue or green! Add their favourite cartoon character and ice around the edges with coloured buttercream icing.

Whichever you choose, just make sure your get in there quick as this cake does not stay around for long! Yummy!

Nigellas Easy Victoria Sponge Recipe

I use this recipe for lots of different cakes! Yes you can do a Victoria sponge but you can also add different icing and add colours and cocoa if you want to change ? just play around with it and you will see it so versatile and really delicious ? and the best thing is that it is very easy to make!

Ingredients

275g each of self raising flour, castor sugar, butter (very, very soft)

5 eggs

2 tsps baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 200*C

Add butter and sugar to mixer, cream. Alternate a couple of spoonfuls of flour and 1 egg until all added. add baking powder.

Add vanilla extract and milk until consistency of a thick batter. It is very difficult to go wrong with this recipe - but just be aware it doesn't rise that much, so don't panic.

Pour into cake tin (silicone is best) and bake in oven @ 200*c for 15-20 mins. Then turn down oven to 180*c and bake for a further 35-45 mins. you will probably need to cover with foil near the end to stop the cake burning. the 1st time you make this in your be careful as we know how ovens differ!

Keep an eye on it and reduce heat a little if you think it is too hot!

Leave to cool in cake tin for a while then turn out onto a wire rack. Leave until completely cool to ice however you choose.

You can do the traditional Victoria sponge (the way the WI would do it) with only jam in the middle and icing sugar sprinkled on top (as above). Or add jam and buttercream to the middle.

For chocolate cake you can add 2 tbsp cocoa powder mixed to a paste with 2 tbsp boiling water!

Add food colouring if you want to make a a girlie pink cake, cover with pink icing and decorate the sides with dolly mixtures or smarties and pretty biscuits!

Pop on their favourite cake topper! Barbie, tinkerbell, Lola whatever! They will love it.

One for the boys?

Cover with blue or red buttercream icing and add a spiderman cake topper!  Easy! Just remember to tell us your message!

Original recipe from Nigella Lawson, How to be a Domestic Goddess! This book is full of great recipes!