My Birthday Cake Recipe

Here, as promised, is a recipe for a very good chocolate birthday cake.

Ingredients

225g self-raising flour

20g cocoa powder

pinch of salt

250g unsalted butter, softened plus extra for the tins

250g caster sugar

4 large eggs, beaten

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 170C or gas 5.  brush two 20 x 3.5cm round cake tins with softened butter and  line the bottom and sides with non-stick baking parchment.

2.  sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl.  cream the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy.  add the eggs a little at a time.  fold in the flour and cocoa  mixture until evenly incorporated.

3.  divide the mixture equally between the tins.  bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  leave in the tins to cool before removing and leave on a wire rack.

4.  to make a filling for the cake, sift 200g icing sugar with 2 tbsp of cocoa powder and beat in 100g of softened butter to make a butter cream filling.  sandwich the cakes together and then dust the top with icing sugar or decorate as you wish.