Yesterday I took the day off from riding my white charger into cyber space to concentrate on the serious business of being mummy to a birthday girl and engaging in some much over-due housework – more like slum clearance actually!!
For many years the mantra that I have envoked over housework has been ‘a tidy house looks clean even when it isn’t’ and if that fails, ‘a room that smells clean feels cleaner even if it isn’t’. This laxidasical approach had finally reaped its due reward and I left all the eco friendly cleaners in the cupboard and attacked that bathroom especially with something rather stronger!
Winter is the birthday season in our family. It begins in October, finishing at the end of January, and in that time we have 5 immediate family birthdays, the birthday of many friends and Christmas slap bang in the middle. This obviously requires the making (and eating) of much cake, and I have a faithful standby in the form of a chocolate cake that can be made in 5 minutes, takes and hour to bake and is always moist and delicious. So here it is…..
Chocolate sponge - makes one 18″ sponge (for a shallower cake slice it in half width ways and ice in the middle and on top, or for a taller cake make two cakes and do the same)
6oz caster sugar
6oz butter or soft margerine
5oz self raising flour
3oz drinking chocolate
3 large eggs
3 tbs boiling water
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.
Bake at Gas 4/160 for 1 hour.
To ice, mix together:
2oz butter, 3 tbs cocoa powder, half a pound of icing sugar and a little boiling water.
Happy Birthday Cake to you and all yours…..love Lucy x
ps. some great stocking fillers and small gifts online at SEASALT for you to check out.
