An artistic and festive cake for a special occasion

CHOCOLATE CAKE

The following amounts make one large or two small cakes.

Ingredients

2 Tblsps cocoa powder dissolved in hot water

8 ozs soft margarine or butter

4 eggs

8 ozs self-raising flour

1 tsps baking powder

8 ozs golden castor sugar

Method

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat well for 3-4 minutes. Grease baking tins. Half fill prepared tins with mixture and smooth out. Preheat the oven to 180C. Bake for 30-40 minutes according to size until firm and well risen. Cool in tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire rack.

Chocolate Icing

Put 4 ozs good quality cooking chocolate, 2 ozs soft butter, 3 Tblsps milk into a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Stir gently until the ingredients have melted. Cool slightly and gradually add 6 ozs sifted icing sugar, beating in until well mixed and smooth. Spread over cooled cake. Let the icing cool for about half an hour before adding the decoration.  

LEAVES

Ingredients

200 grams bitter chocolate

Rose leaves

2 cups cocoa powder

Method

Gently wash the rose leaves and lay them flat to dry. Break the chocolate into cubes and melt in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, stir gently until smooth. Spread a small amount of the mixture on the back of each leaf - not the smooth side.

Gently place all the coated leaves next to each other on a tray and refrigerate for at least an hour. Once the chocolate has hardened you can peel off the rose leaves. It is best not to take all the leaves out from the fridge at once, but in small batches so as to keep the chocolate hard and thus easier to separate from the rose leaf.

Once your cake and icing have cooled, place the chocolate leaves over the cake. Sprinkle cocoa powder with a small sieve over the sides of the cake and serve.