Cakes Recipes - Chocolate Fairy Cakes

Ingredients

•  115g/4oz good-quality plain chocolate, cut into small pieces

• 15ml/1 tbsp water

• 300g/2 1/2 cups plain flour

• 5ml/1 tsp baking powder

• 2.5ml/1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 300g/scant  1 1/2 cups caster sugar

• 170g/3/4 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature

• 150ml/2/3 cup milk

• 5ml/1 tsp vanilla essence

• 3eggs

• 1 recipe quantity butter cream, flavored to taste

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Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F /Gas 4. Grease and flour 24 deep bun tins, about 6.5cm in diameter, or use paper cases in the tins.

2. Put the chocolate and water in a bowl set over a pan of almost simmering water. Heat until melted and smooth, stirring. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Add the chocolate mixture, butter or margarine, milk and vanilla essence.

4. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until smoothly blended. Increase the speed to high and beat for 2 minutes. Add the eggs and beat for 2 more minutes.

5. Divide the mixture evenly among the prepared bun tins and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the  centre of a cake comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely on a wire rack.

6. Ice the top of each cake with butter cream, swirling it into a peak in the centre.