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Ruby Tandoh's Easy cocoa birthday cake

This is a simple cocoa powder batter complemented by light brown sugar,

vanilla, coffee and salt. The sugar adds a toffee edge to the sweetness,

vanilla and coffee bolster the chocolate flavour, while the salt brings the

whole thing into focus. No expensive chocolate, no fuss or fiddly detail just

a perfect chocolate cake.

You could swap the cocoa buttercream for a richer chocolate ganache, made with

dark chocolate melted into an equal weight of scalding double cream, but I

think that the heaviness of ganache smothers the mild cocoa kick of the cake. A

compromise, if you want something a little more grown up, would be to ice the

cake as detailed below, chill it well then glaze with a thin coat of ganache

afterwards.

Serves 6-8

275g salted butter, very soft

275g soft light brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

225g plain flour

75g cocoa powder

3 tsp baking powder

150ml weak black coffee

For the buttercream

225g salted butter, softened

50g cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

325g icing sugar

2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tsp water

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease two 20cm round cake tins

(loose-bottomed or springform are best) and line their bases with circles of

baking parchment.

2 Beat the butter with the soft light brown sugar in a large mixing bowl for

several minutes, creaming the mix until it is perfectly smooth and light. Stir

in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each

addition to minimise clumping and curdling. Stir the flour, cocoa powder and

baking powder together, then add this mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing

just until smooth. Add the dissolved coffee and fold it in to create a soft,

velvety cake batter.

3 Divide the batter between the two prepared tins and bake for 30-35 minutes,

until well-risen and springy to the touch. A small knife inserted into the

centre of each cake should emerge with no more than a couple of crumbs stuck to

it. Leave the cakes to cool completely in their tins before unmoulding.

4 For the buttercream, beat the butter until smooth, then stir in the cocoa

powder and vanilla extract. Sift in the icing sugar a third at a time, mixing

well as you go. The buttercream should be luxuriantly thick, but still soft

enough to spread on the cakes without ripping them. Add a dash of milk or

coffee to slacken the mixture, if necessary.

5 Smooth a thick layer of cocoa buttercream over one of the cooled cake layers,

then sandwich with the second layer and ice the top. Spread the remaining cocoa

buttercream generously around the sides of the cake.