This is originally Mary Berrys chocolate cake recipe! She uses the all in on method, however we prefer our method below.

Ingredients 

• 50 g Cocoa powder (we prefer bournville )
• 6 Tbsp boiling water
• 300 g sugar (preferably caster sugar)
• 100 g butter (preferably left at room temperature overnight / few hours)
• 175 g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Vanilla essence (optional)
• 4 tbsp milk
• 3 eggs (preferably left at room temperature overnight / few hours)

Method

1. Recite Bismillah.
2. Preheat oven to 180c fan.
3. Beat butter with sugar till creamy.
4. Meanwhile sift the self raising flour in a bowl & set aside.
5. Mix cocoa & boiling  water to make a thick smooth paste & set aside.
6. Grease 2 x  8″  round tins with a generous amount of butter, including the sides. Then sprinkle some self raising flour & shake & tilt the tin around so it is thinly coated with flour. Shake off any excess flour. Set aside.
7. Add eggs, flour, milk & vanilla to the butter & sugar mixture once creamy. Mix
8. Add cocoa mixture to above mixture & mix well till well combined but be careful not to over beat!
9. Fold in baking powder.
10. Pour into tins & bake for 25-30 mins at 180c . You will know the cake is cooked when the sides have started to release from the pan & the middle is springy to touch. Do not rely on a clean toothpick!
11. Run a knife all around the sides of the pan, this will help release the cake from the pan.
12. Remove the cake from pan by placing a tray on top of the cake. Flip the tin over so that the top of the cake with the tray is now facing down. Pat the back of the tin all around. The cake should release from the bottom. Lift the tin gently.
13. Allow to cool, preferably on a cooling rack .
14. Fill & frost! (see our frosting recipes) 
15. Enjoy

Tips:

• To avoid cocoa lumps in your batter, beat the cocoa & water using a electric whisk till its smooth.
•  If you do not have a stand mixer, have all the ingredients weighed out & ready so all you are focusing on is the making the cake batter!
• If you do not have caster sugar, you can make some at home yourself! Simply blitz granulated sugar in a food processor / chopper, till the grains look like caster sugar, be careful not to blitz it too much & turn it into icing sugar!