Oddly enough, my children ask me to make cakes every time they have to contribute food for anything at school.  Not a problem – I enjoy it!  However, I am, at times, reluctant to use my good chocolate for cakes that small children are going to devour with little understanding of the importance of chocolate with 70% cocoa solids.  So, for the latest round of Christmas parties, I set about creating a little chocolate cake which was moist, sweet and chocolately, but without involving the addition of any real chocolate…

This mix makes 24 small buns and you’ll need:

125g Self Raising Flour

75g Cocoa

200g Softened Butter (stick it in the microwave for 20secs, it just easier)

4 eggs

200g dark muscavado sugar (light muscavado or soft brown is just as good)

and your secret ingredients:

150ml (that’s a normal small pot size or about 3 large desert spoons) of Greek Yoghurt.  Natural yoghurt is just as good (and vanilla would work) but it must not be a fat free one.

1 heaped teaspoon of ground cinnamon

This being one of my easy cakes, the method is simple

Line your tins with paper cases (I’ve used muffin cases, it’s what was in stock) and pre-heat your oven to 180C (fan 160C) which I think is about Gas 3.5

Put the flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa in a bowl.  Add the eggs and then with your trusty hand mixer, mix to to smooth batter.  Add the yoghurt and mix in – it will make the batter much paler.

Now here’s a trick for you…

Rather than scooping the mixture into each case, use a piping bag for the task.  I use disposable piping bags from Lakeland – they come so that you can cut the tip off to fit your own nozzle.  For just the mix I use prop the bag open in a pint glass (or whatever is to hand) fill it with the mix and then cut the tip off when it’s full.  Twist the top of the bag so you can squeeze the mix down as you go and then swirl a bit of mix into each case.

Bake for about 8 minutes and then (the ninja like skills are required again here) very quickly turn the trays around in the oven so that they bake evenly.  Bake for another 8-9 minutes so the cakes spring back to the touch.  Allow to cool otherwise you’ll burn yourself.

This is the point where the Cheetah Keeper’s sister requested that I make all the characters from the school nativity performance out of icing to go on the cakes.  I cannot do that.  She was a little disappointed so I had to come up with a plan…

These cakes are nice on their own, chocolately, fudgey and they keep well.  You could ice them with butter icing, a dollop of melted Nutella or some melted Milky Way bars.  In that it was late and the cakes needed to be nut free I conceded and melted together a 150g bar of milk cooking chocolate and 50g butter in the microwave.

Stir this combo together until smooth and then dollop a bit onto each cake.  It’s not runny enough to cover the whole cake, it’s just enough to add a bit on the top.  I then added white chocolate stars (available in the cake decoration section in Sainsburys) – which kind of linked into the nativity theme!

A sprinkle of edible glitter finished off the effect and they didn’t last long at the class party!  Any other decoration would work just as well – enjoy x

Here are some of my other recipes – hope you enjoy them!

• After Eight Cupcakes
• Malteaser Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Icing
• Oreo Brownie Cupcakes
• Mince Pie Cupcakes with Brandy Buttercream