Chocolate Spice Cake

This week I dug out my 40th Edition Be-Ro book and did the Cookbook Challenge. It is a well thumbed recipe book so was hard to find something I

haven’t baked before but hiding away on page 53 is Chocolate Spice Cake.

This cake is suits Autumn perfectly, especially this week being Halloween and Bonfire Night. The Chocolate Spice Cake is lightly spiced with cloves, cinnamon and mixed spice so is a lovely alternative to parkin and gingerbread.

Chocolate Spice Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

100g margarine
200g caster sugar
50g dark chocolate (melted)
2 large eggs – separated
175g self raising flour
120ml milk
25g cut mixed peel (I left this out)
half teaspoon mixed spice
half teaspoon cinnamon
quarter teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of salt

For the icing:

100g softened butter
200g icing sugar
50g melted dark chocolate
splash of milk

Method

Heat oven to 170c fan and grease and line a square 20cm tin.

Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Blend in the melted chocolate and egg yolks.
Sieve together the salt, flour and spices then stir into the mixture, alternating it with the milk.

Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks and then fold into the cake mixture.
If adding cut mixed peel add this in now also.

Place your mixture in the tin and bake for around 40 minutes.
Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
Whilst the cake is cooling make the icing.

Cream together the butter and the icing sugar.
Pour in the melted chocolate and thoroughly mix together.
If the icing is too thick to spread on the cake add a splash of milk and mix together until a suitable consistency is reached.
Spread the icing all over the top and sides of the cake.

Notes

You could leave out the cut mixed peel and the spices and just have a lovely chocolate cake.
Alternatively you could swap the cut mixed peel for glacé cherries and have a delicious Chocolate Cherry Cake.

But for now enjoy your Chocolate Spice Cake!