Mocha cake recipe

Unlike our classic chocolate cake, this grown up version is made with bitter cocoa and rich espresso coffee for an intensely chocolatey and dark cake. It's quick and simple to make but looks really impressive if you sandwich it together with whipped cream. Serve it with coffee or hot chocolate to complement the flavours in the cake, or serve really thin slices with single cream poured over the top as a dessert. Be warned – this is a very rich cake so you'll need to slice it thinly.

Ingredients

• 200g softened butter
• 200g brown sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 2tbsp strong espresso coffee
• 150g flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 3tsp baking powder
• 150ml double cream, whipped until thick (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 160°C/140°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a deep (preferably spring-form) 10cm sandwich cake tin.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.
3. Beat the eggs and add the cooled espresso.
4. Mix in 1/3 of the eggs and 1/3 of the flour and gently fold in. Repeat until all of the eggs and flour are combined.
5. Add the baking powder and cocoa, and fold through the cake mix.
6. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 30-35mins until the cake is slightly risen a lovely dark brown. A skewer inserted into the middle of the cake should come out with a few crumbs but no raw cake mixture attached.
7. Cool in the tin for 10mins, then turn out onto a wire rack.
8. Leave to cool completely, then, if you like, slice in half lengthways and sandwich together with the whipped cream. Alternatively, serve with single cream to pour over.