Double Chocolate Cake with blackberries.

 Everyone loves chocolate cake right ? Well this one is a good one. Make the cakes the
night before your party or event and allow them to cool over a wire rack. When
you have layered the cakes, place them on the serving dish or cake stand ( this
does look impressive !) And ice the cake from there. This way you don’t have to
try and transfer the cake for the big unveil!

Any type of berries can be used in the cake – try strawberries and strawberry jam,
or cherries when they are in season, the list is endless and only limited to
your imagination and of course availability.

Prep time 30 mins, plus 1 hr to cool

Cooking  time 1 hr

Serves 10

Ingredients:
100g dark chocolate, chopped

125g butter, chopped

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

½ cup almond meal

1/3 cup blackberry jam

300ml cream, whipped

Blackberries, to serve

Chocolate glaze-

¾ cup thickened cream

200 dark chocolate, chopped

1 Preheat the oven to 170°C or 150°C fan. Grease 2 x 20cm (base measurement) springform tins and line the base with non-stick baking paper.

2 Place the chocolate and 1 cup water into a small saucepan. Heat gently over low heat until warm, then stir until chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

3 Using an electric mixer beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the sifted flour and cocoa powder, the almonds and chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared tins. Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted at centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4 To make the glaze, place the cream and chocolate into a small saucepan over low heat until chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Refrigerate for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally so it cools evenly, until the consistency of thickened cream. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t become too firm to spread.

5 Trim the “dome” from the top of the cakes, so surface is flat. Transfer one of the cakes, cut side down onto a serving plate, so you have a smooth, flat top, and spread the top with jam. Replace with the second cake.  Spread the top and sides of the cake with the glaze, and leave to set. Serve with cream and blackberries.