This recipe has been in my mum’s ring binder of special family recipes for as long as I can remember. It was the first cake I learnt to make well and it was our go-to cake if we knew people were coming over for afternoon tea. Mum used to always ask me to make it, certainly not because she wasn’t able, but I think because she knew just how much I enjoyed making it.

It is an incredibly moist and light cake, it is quick and simple to make and best of all it bakes in only 7 ½ minutes. It is a microwave cake, so you will need a plastic ring mould for this one – if you don’t have one it will be thoroughly worth the investment as I can promise this is not a once-off type of recipe!

The frosting is totally up to you and what your preference is, I’ve made it with chocolate buttercream, dark chocolate ganache, white chocolate ganache, regular old chocolate icing and decorated with nuts, cherries, strawberries, peppermint crisp, grated chocolate, and the list goes on and on! Whatever you have in the cupboard, and whatever you are in the mood for.

For the cake in the photo I used a simple coffee chocolate ganache with grated white chocolate.

Chocolate Cake

140g standard flour
125g castor sugar
10ml baking powder
15ml cocoa
1ml salt
3 eggs, separated
125ml oil
125ml water

• Sift all the dry ingredients together.
• Mix the egg yolks, oil and water together. Add to the dry ingredients and beat together for 2 minutes.
• Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into the rest of the mixture.
• Pour mixture into a buttered ring mould, cover tightly with cling wrap and pierce it with a few holes for the steam to escape (I normally just use my skewer).
• Bake in the microwave on MEDIUM for 7 ½ minutes.

Coffee Chocolate Ganache

200g dark chocolate
1 cup pouring cream
3 tsp coffee

• Melt the chocolate, then heat the cream (watch out not too boil).
• Stir the coffee into the cream until dissolved.
• Slowly start adding the cream to the melted chocolate stirring well after each addition.
• Place in the fridge stirring every few minutes until it is a spreadable consistency.

…be fearless, and have fun!

e.