A Really Easy Minecraft Cake.

You know those amazing cakes you see on Pinterest, yeah, this isn’t one of those. I am not a baker. I love cooking, I am good at making food that tastes nice and I love eating, but I am not a baker. If you’re the same as me then you can probably make this recipe and feel half way pleased with yourself! Ok, so it isn’t Pin worthy but it’s alright. I’m not good at decorating cakes so I think simple is best. I’ve tried being fancy before but it just doesn’t work.

This recipe has evolved from a different one that a friend passed to me a few years ago. If ever I want chocolate cake this is the recipe I go to. Over the years I’ve made tweaks and changes, so much so that I now think I’m allowed to call it an original!

It’s dead easy to do as it’s an all in one method for the cake and you can cheat even further by using self raising flour instead of farting about with baking powder and bicarb!

Easy Chocolate Mine Craft Cake:

275 grams plain flour.

1.5 tsp baking powder.

1.5 tsp bicarb

3 tbsp cocoa powder

210 grams caster sugar

3 tbsp golden syrup

210 ml sunflower oil

210 ml milk

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract.

Half tsp salt.

Sift all the dry ingredients into a big bowl, then add the wet ingredients. Whazz together with an electric whisk and divide into two 7″ square tins (lined with greaseproof paper). Put them in the oven Gas Mark 4/160c, for 35-40 minutes. I don’t have a fan oven so I swap the tins over after 25 minutes). Sticking a skewer into the middle will tell you if it’s done. If it’s clean it’s done, if it’s not then it needs a few extra minutes. Take out the oven and leave to cool.

The cakes won’t be 100% flat and you want them to be as flat as possible. That means slicing a bit of cake off the top of each. These can be taste tests bits, you need to taste plenty of it to make sure it’s ok.

Butter Cream Icing:

500 grams of softened salted butter (I microwave cubes of cold butter in a bowl to soften it in 4-5 second blasts, mixing around after each blast. Works for me).

500 grams icing sugar, sifted. (I like my icing buttery so this is how much I use. Most people add up to twice this amount for real butter icing. You can freeze leftovers!)

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Mix the above ingredients thoroughly together in a big bowl. Take a generous quarter of the mix and put into another bowl. Sift and mix 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder into the big bowl. Squirt two tubes of green food colouring into the small bowl of icing and mix (Aldi do a good version of the Dr Oetker gel colouring but I couldn’t be bothered to drive just to get some).

Smoosh on the chocolate butter cream to the bottom square and then sandwich on the top one, which I place upside down to give you a square top. Before I start doing  this I tuck bits of greaseproof paper under the cake to stop the board getting messy. (Next time I want to see if decorating somewhere else, then transferring it will work better because I ended up tearing half the icing off the bottom when I removed the paper…ho hum).

Once sandwiched together, put more of the chocolate buttercream around it, filling in gaps. A knife in some hot water will neaten up corners and make it more cubey.

The green icing is spread on the very top. Use the flat of a knife to pat over the top to create grass. I add chocolate sprinkles to the sides for dirt. I empty it into my hand and then gently throw/spread it on. Then you eat it!