Chocolate and Blackberry Cake

With the weather being so dreadful the last week I decided it was time to get the Kitchenaid out in an effort to cheer myself up! To make this delicious cake (If I do say so myself) I started with a  chocolate cake recipe but adapted it slightly to add in the fruit I wanted.

Ingredients:

200g golden caster sugar

200g unsalted butter

4 eggs

200g self-raising flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

100g Blackberries

For the buttercream:

200g butter

400g icing sugar

5 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp milk

Method:

1. Follow the link for the recipe I used. 

2. Once you reach step two in the recipe, gently fold in the blackberries (or other fruit of your choice). Add more if you would like a fruitier sponge. I found the cake took longer than 20 minutes more like 30-40. I find the best way to check if the cake is cooked is to use a digital food thermometer, at 98℃ your cake should be cooked but moist.

3. Whilst the cake is cooling, mix the buttercream ingredients together until smooth and leave to chill. If your buttercream separates, take a few tablespoons, put in a microwaveable bowl and microwave until melted. Beat the melted mixture back in to the buttercream and it should bring it back together. 

4. Once your cake has cooled you can start decorating. If the top of your cakes have a volcano shape, level this off using a bread knife and save the leftover bits of cake! Use about a third of the buttercream to fill the middle layer and add the top layer of cake. Using a pallet knife and/or spatula cover the cake in a thin layer of buttercream then chill for 10 minutes to firm up.

5. Once the first layer of buttercream has set slightly, add the rest of the butter cream and smooth out as much as possible. Instead of wasting the bits of cake I had cut off, I put them in a food processor to create a cake crumb. I then used this to decorate after making a border of chocolate balls and blackberries.

6. If you still have some crumbs and buttercream left after decorating, try mixing them together and creating some cake pops!

"Cooking and baking is both physical and mental therapy" ~ Mary Berry

Lucy x :)