This is a beautifully rich and tasty cake with a silky smooth texture.

Makes: 16 or more slices

Time*: Hands on/prep – 30 mins. Baking 35 – 45 mins + cooling. Filling – 15 mins + chilling. Covering & decorating – 20 mins + chilling.

* These times are very approximate; I’m not the fastest baker in the world.

Level: Moderately easy

Need: A 23cm/9” springform tin

Cake ingredients

140g/50z self- raising flour (if using gluten free flour then add 1 tsp xanthan gum powder)
20g/¾oz cocoa powder + a little to dust inside the tin
1 tsp coffee powder (can be omitted or use 2 tsp strong coffee with the wet ingredients later)
1 tsp baking powder
150g/5½oz caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
A few drops of raspberry flavouring – depending how strong it is. (optional)
Around 100g/3½oz raspberries, lightly tossed in flour
200g/7oz unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp buttermilk or milk

Filling

75g/2½oz white chocolate
150g/5½oz full fat cream cheese
150g/5½oz icing sugar
A few drops of raspberry flavouring – depending how strong it is. (optional)
Some freeze dried raspberries

Topping

150g/5½oz dark chocolate
150m/5½fl oz double cream
A few fresh raspberries for decoration

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C / Fan 160°C / 350°F / Gas 4. Grease the tin, line the base with baking parchment and dust lightly with cocoa powder.

2. Melt the dark chocolate over a bain marie.

3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and coffee powder into a large mixing bowl then add in the baking powder, caster sugar and salt. Stir well to mix thoroughly.

4. Beat the eggs lightly and add in the vanilla extract and raspberry flavouring, if using.

5. Add the wet mixture, the butter and the cooled melted chocolate into the main mix.

6. Decide whether you want to put the raspberries in whole, later, or put them in now and let the mixer break them up into small pieces within the cake. (*When I first made this cake I put them in early, by mistake, and they were shredded by the electric mixer, but it turned out well and probably added to the raspberry flavour, so give it a go if you want to.)

7. Add in the buttermilk/milk then use an electric mixer to mix for a few minutes until fully combined. Stir in the raspberries if you haven’t already put them in.

8. Pour the mixture evenly into the tin, level the top surfaces and bake for 35 – 45 minutes, or until risen and pulling away from the sides of the tins. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

9. For the filling, melt the white chocolate in a bain marie. While it’s melting, beat the cream cheese to soften it.

10. Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little then pour it onto the cream cheese. Beat well then sift in the icing sugar. Mix it in carefully at first, then beat more vigorously until it’s a reasonably firm mixture and stir in the freeze dried raspberries. Use this filling to combine the two cakes. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or even overnight.

11. After taking the cake from the fridge, set it up on a wire rack with a tray beneath – ready for the topping. Or use a rotating cake icing platform.

12. Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and put in a heat proof bowl. In a saucepan, heat the cream almost to boiling. Pour it over the chocolate and leave for a few minutes, then stir to mix fully. Leave to cool – it needs to be liquid enough to pour or spoon on, but cool enough to set reasonably soon afterwards.

13. When it’s cooled sufficiently, pour or spoon the topping onto the cake starting in the middle. Work it gently outwards and down the sides. Before it sets, decorate with raspberries*.

Gallery

* I made the cake in the photographs below to take to church to share after our meeting, so I actually left the chocolate coated cake overnight in the fridge then cut it into 16 pieces the next morning. I melted a small amount of chocolate (2 squares) and dipped the raspberries into it to stick them onto the cake.

I hope you enjoy this lovely cake. If you want more cake recipes click this link, or have a look at my site for lots of other great recipes, both sweet and savoury.

Below are a few that I’d love you to try:

Honey and Almond Cake