Ingredients
- 240g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
- 300g caster sugar
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 225ml hot milk
- 100g butter, chopped into small chunks
For the milk chocolate icing:
- 100g good quality milk chocolate
- 100ml double cream, thick plain yogurt, soured cream or crème fraiche (use whatever you have leftover in the fridge)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Put the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and stir to combine.
- Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, use a balloon whisk attachment on your mixer or an electric hand whisk (or whisk furiously by hand) for about 3-4 mins or until the mixture is so thick it leaves a trail on top of itself.
- Sift the dry ingredients onto the whisked egg mixture and gently fold in using a thin spatula, check there aren’t any pockets of flour hidden anywhere in the mix.
- Put the milk into a pan (or in a bowl in the microwave) and bring to the boil, as soon as it is simmering, lift the pan off the heat and add the butter, stir to melt and combine.
- Carefully pour the hot milk and butter into the cake mixture and stir on a low speed until it is smooth and creamy.
- Pour the cake batter into a lined cake tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until pale golden and springy.
- For the milk chocolate icing, melt the chocolate and cream (or yogurt/ crème fraiche) in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water or gently in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, taking care not to let it burn.
- Once the chocolate has melted, stir well to mix into the cream and lift off the heat. Put to one side to cool a little and thicken a bit at room temperature (it is best not to put it in the fridge as it will go too hard if you do).
- Once the cake has cooled, thickly spread the chocolate icing on top and then share it with family and friends.
