FLUFFY CHOCOLATE CAKE

125g /4 oz butter

1 tblspns cocoa

½ cup milk

2 eggs

¾ cup castor sugar

1 cup self raising  flour

Combine butter, cocoa and milk in saucepan, stir over low heat without boiling until butter is melted. Grease 20cm/8″ round cake tin, line base with paper. Beat eggs until thick and creamy. Gradually beat in sugar. Fold in half the flour and half the cocoa mixture, then the remainder. Pour into pan. Bake at 180C/350F for 30 mins. Stand for 5 mins then remove from pan.

One of Jared’s favourite things to east at Starbucks is the lemon poppyseed cake. So we decided to make one at home as well …

Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf

250 grams butter, cut into cubes, softened

250 grams caster sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

250 grams self-raising flour, sifted

1 lemon, zest and juice

30 grams poppy seeds

Lemon icing

icing sugar

1 lemon, juiced

Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until creamy and light.

Drizzle in the eggs, a little at a time, only adding more when the last amount has been absorbed into the mixture.

Sprinkle over with the flour and gently stir in until absorbed, follow it with the lemon juice and zest before finally folding through the poppy seeds.

Pour the batter out into a 9×27cm or 8-cup capacity loaf tin – smooth out the top and then bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F oven for about an hour or until golden and cooked through. If you feel it’s cooking too quickly, cover with foil and lower the temperature.

Let the cake sit in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the icing:

Sift icing sugar into a small bowl and then add enough lemon juice to form a spreadable paste – how much icing sugar or lemon juice you need depends on how thick you like your icing. I prefer mine more lemony consequently it has a thinner density.

Drizzle the icing over the cooled cake – make sure you place a tray underneath to catch the drips.