This really is the most wonderful, classic chocolate cake. Soft and silky with a familiar comforting cocoa flavour, each piece slices evenly and easily and holds its form perfectly. In fact all of the cakes I have baked from David Herbert’s cookbook Best Ever Baking Recipes have turned out a treat. Worth getting your hands on a copy, or buying one for budding home bakers. 

I changed the icing ever so slightly today, by melting Lindt salted caramel dark chocolate instead of the usual plain 70% variety. I have a stockpile of these salted caramel bars in the pantry. You see I’ve become accustomed to enjoying a couple of squares each day with my afternoon cup of tea. Just two though… so hard to resist!  

Chocolate Fudge Cake to serve 12-16 people

Ingredients
100 g very soft unsalted butter
100 g dark chocolate, melted
250 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
280 g self raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (this aerates the cake resulting in a lighter texture)
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cocoa
250 ml milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees on a conventional setting. Grease and line a 22 or 23 cm springform cake tin. 

Place all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl (I used my reliable KitchenAid mixer) and beat on a medium speed for 2 minutes, until combined and smooth.

Scrape into your prepared tin and bake for 50 – 60 minutes.The cake is ready when a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out cleanly. 

Cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool down completely if you are intending to ice the cake. 

An excellent icing is the Chocolate Ganache as suggested in the aforementioned cookbook. Simply melt 100 g unsalted butter with 250 g dark chocolate  in a heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of gently simmering hot water. Cool down for about 20 minutes or until the icing has thickened and then spread over your cake. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes just to set the icing slightly so that it doesn’t dribble down the sides of the cake.