Chocolate Cake with Ganache Icing and Strawberries & Cream

Chocolate cake with strawberries and cream...Wimbledon anyone? 

Ingredients

3 large eggs

175g (6oz) Self-raising Flour

175g (6oz) Caster Sugar

175g (6oz) Butter, softened 

1/2 tsp of Baking Powder

40g (11/2oz) Cocoa Powder (I tend to use 1oz of normal cocoa powder and 1/2 Willie Harcourt's real Cacao, which is available from Waitrose)

4tbsp Boiling Water

Ganache icing:

150ml (5fl oz) Double Cream

150g Dark Chocolate, 70% cacao min

4 tbsp of apricot jam (optional) (moistens the cake, but sometimes a little much with cream and fruit)

Fruit and Cream:

1 punnet of Strawberries (support local farmers if possible!)

or

1 punnet of Raspberries (or both and blueberries too!!! Yum)

1 medium size pot of double cream (or buy 1 big one for the icing as well, this will probably save pennies!!!)

Cake tin:

2 X 17cm (7inch) deep sandwich tins, greased and basis lined with baking paper 

Method

1. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees centigrade (Gas mark 4)
2. In a large bowl beat together the; eggs, flour, sugar, butter and baking powder until smooth (you can do this with an electric mixer if you have access to one)
3. Place the cocoa (and cacao if using my recommendation :) )  in a mug and add the boiling water a little at a time until a thick paste has formed. Add this to the main mixture and stir well until all the ingredients are mixed in.
4. Half the mixture, and split it between the prepared tins. Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cake is springy to the touch and a needle inserted is clean when removed.
5. Leave to cool IN THE TIN and then turn onto a wire rack, and once completely cooled it can be iced.
6. Ganache Icing: Place a glass bowl, over a pan with a little water, on a low heat. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Measure the cream and chocolate and transfer it to the glass bowl. Stir until the chocolate has melted, then remove from the heat to cool and thicken.
7. If using optional apricot jam, heat in a pan until melted and spread on the top of each of the cakes.
8. Whip the cream until thick and tasty. This part is up to you, feel free to add a thin layer of chocolate icing on the top the cake you want to be the bottom cake, I tend to just go for cream then add slices of strawberries, with a drizzle of the ganache icing (see photo below).

Middle of the cake, cream then strawberry slices and drizzle of ganache icing

9. Place the top cake on top and sandwich together. Place a plate under the cooling rack and pour the chocolate ganache icing on-top, spreading carefully with a pallet or butter knife, making sure you also cover the sides.
10. Decorate as you wish! I piped a swirl on top and placed a whole strawberry on top. You could even glaze the strawberry in jam of your choosing (melted apricot if you have used it earlier!). Keep refrigerated (still tasty after 3-4 days!) 

Don't like strawberries, or not in season? This cake is also delicious with Raspberries, the bitter rasps cut through the sweetness

Also makes excellent Birthday Cakes...

Raspberry version for my friend Erin's Birthday

This is without cream or fruit, and glazed with the apricot jam, sandwiched with the ganache icing. Ross' Birthday

Altered version of this recipe by Mary Berry, aka Cake God!