Valentine's Chocolate Cake Recipe

Mark and I don't usually do anything for Valentine's Day, we buy each other a card and he usually buys me flowers but that's about it. This year I decided to make him a heart shaped chocolate cake, so I thought I would share the recipe I used with you all. It's really quick and easy, and a cheap alternative for those who can't afford to spend a lot of money on Valentine's presents. I also feel that it is a lot more personal when it's home made :)

I used a recipe by Dr. Oetker, you can find the full recipe here.

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

225g (8oz) butter

225g (8oz) castor sugar

4 medium eggs

175g (6oz) self raising flour, sieved

50g (2oz) cocoa powder

For the Icing:

75g (3oz) unsalted butter

175g (6oz) icing sugar

45g (3tbsp) cocoa powder

about 10ml of milk or warm water

This is actually a recipe for a chocolate Victoria Sponge Cake but I just put the whole mixture into my heart shaped tin instead of separating it into two circle tins. I think I got my heart shaped tin from B&M's and I'm pretty sure it was only about £3. I can't remember exactly as I've had it for quite a while. I used strawberries and sugar decorations to decorate the cake but you can be as creative as you like with this :)

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (gas mark 4). Grease and line your tin.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs and if the mixture starts to curdle, add a little flour.

3. Fold in the remaining flour and cocoa powder with a metal spoon.

4. Transfer the mixture into the tin and bake for approx 25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. (Helpful tip: insert a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre of the cake, if the skewer comes out clean the cake is cooked.) Remove from the oven and leave to cool before turning out onto a wire rack.

5. To make the butter icing, place the butter in a bowl and beat until soft. Gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar and then add enough milk/water to make the icing fluffy and spreadable. Sift and beat the cocoa powder in to the icing and spread over the top of the cake. 

6. Leave the cake as it is or get creative and decorate!

I found that this recipe was really quick and easy to follow and I'm sure Mark will say it tastes delicious :) I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day, let me know in the comments if you try out this cake!