Sunday spoil: A decadent chocolate cake

Serves 8–10

You’ll need: 4 eggs, at room temperature; 1½ cups caster sugar; 1 cup plain flour; ½ cup cocoa powder, sifted; 2 teaspoons baking powder; ¼ teaspoon table salt; 110g unsalted butter, melted and cooled; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1 cup sour cream.

For the chocolate cream cheese icing – 75g unsalted butter, softened; 375g cream cheese, softened and chopped; 3 cups icing sugar, sifted; ½ cup cocoa powder, sifted; 150g milk chocolate, melted and cooled.

How to:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 22cm round cake tin (base measurement) and line with non-stick baking paper.

Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk on high speed for 4 minutes or until thick and pale. Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and whisk to just combine, don’t overdo or it will make the batter tough. Add the butter, sour cream and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.

Spoon the batter into the greased, lined tin and smooth the top. Bake for 45–50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Set aside in the tin for 10 minutes to cool before transferring to a cooling rack. Turn out and allow to cool completely before icing.

For the icing, before starting, ensure the cream cheese and butter are at room temperature.

Place the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and cocoa in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low until combined and smooth. Increase the speed to high and beat for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the chocolate and beat for a further 2 minutes until combined. Ice the cooled cake and serve or decorate with chocolate shavings and edible flowers.

While you’re stocking up on those chocolate eggs, be sure to stock up on regular eggs too because not only are they a source of high-quality protein, but they’re also relatively well-priced compared to other protein sources.

For more egg recipes head over to sapolutry.co.za, or like @EGGcellentFood on Facebook and @EggcellentFoodSA on Insta.