Simply Chocolate Cake

Preheat an oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Grease and prep a large cake tin—the size is really up to you. The cake rises pretty well I have found, regardless of what tin I bake it in.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix well with a wooden spoon.

Add the melted butter and milk. Using a handheld or stand mixer, mix the ingredients for approximately 2 minutes. The mixture should be a light chocolate colour, but a little floury.

Add the eggs at once. Using the mixer, mix the mixture again for 2 minutes. It should remain a light chocolate colour, but the mixture should have turned runny. It will not be a very thick or gloopy (for lack of a better word) mixture. It will be relatively runny for a cake.

Pour the mixture into a large cake tin and bake for 25–30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Be careful not to burn the edges of the cake.

Leave cake to cool, out of tin. Once it has cooled completely, you can ice it.

For the icing, in a medium-sized bowl, sift the icing sugar and cocoa together. Stir well with a spoon. Add the butter and milk and mix together with a handheld or stand mixer. Make sure the mixture is a thin, light brown mixture.

If the mixture is still a little lumpy or dry, add more milk. If the mixture is too runny, add more icing sugar and cocoa. If you need more icing, or you want a thicker icing than what the picture shows, add more icing sugar and cocoa in equal amounts.

Using a flat knife, spread the mixture of the top of the cake. Only spread on the top of the cake.

When the icing has dried, serve the cake. I recommend serving it with custard; this is a real guilty pleasure of mine.