#BigBlogmasProject2014 | Chocolate Christmas Cake

Hey guys!

My family don't really like the traditional Christmas cake so instead I usually make us our own Christmas cake. Me and my sister have had this recipe that we have always followed and done together for years whatever the occasion is so we always thought it was fitting that we make it for Christmas too. It is a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and the recipe comes from a recipe book from around the time of World War 2 that our Nan owned. It's a very old and fragile recipe book! Anyway, let's get started!

You will need: (I will tell you how much of each throughout because some ingredients are needed more than once)

• Self-raising flour
• Caster sugar
• Salt
• Cocoa powder
• Margarine
• Eggs
• Evaporated milk
• Cold water
• Vanilla Essence
• Icing Sugar
• Hot scaled milk
• Optional: Christmas cake decorations

To make the chocolate sponge...    

[TURN ON THE OVEN TO GAS MARK 4 AND GREASE TWO TINS]

SIFT TOGETHER:

• 7ozs self-raising flour
• 8ozs caster sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

RUB IN:

• 4ozs of margarine: making sure there are no clumps.

STIR IN:

• 2 beaten eggs mixed with 5 tablespoons of evaporated milk
• 5 tablespoons of cold water
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Beat it all well then pour the mixture out equally between both tins. Put in the oven for 35 MINUTES.

To make the chocolate icing...

[I suggest beginning to make this 5 minutes before the cake is due to come out of the oven!]

MELT TOGETHER:

• 2 1/2ozs margarine (microwave it for 20 seconds)
• 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder

STIR IN:

• 8ozs icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons of hot scalded milk (put in half a mug of milk n the microwave for 45 seconds then take it out and measure out the correct amount)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Beat the mixture until thick. When the chocolate sponge has completely cooled, begin to paint one side of one sponge until it is thick with icing. Then, put the other sponge on top of it like a sandwich. Paint the icing on top of that and all around the sides to act as a glue to stick the two sponges together.

Let the cake sit for some hours (or overnight) to let the icing set then it is time to decorate! I like to sprinkle a tiny bit of self-raising flour over the top to look like snow then put on some Christmas decorations. Have fun with it!

Let me know if you follow this recipe!