Rich and indulgent, this dark chocolate cake with its even darker icing is the ultimate cake for hardened chocoholics!

Ingredients: (Serves 8)

For the cake:

• 140 g/5 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 220 g/8 oz butter, diced
• 400 g/12 oz caster sugar
• 240 ml/8 fl oz milk
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee
• 2 eggs
• 150 g/5 oz plain flour
• 40 g/1 oz self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

For the icing:

• 100 g/3½ oz plain chocolate, finely chopped
• 80 ml/3 fl oz double cream

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/Gas mark 3. Grease a 20-cm/8-inch round cake tin and line the bottom with greaseproof paper.

Put the chocolate, butter, sugar, milk and coffee together in a large pan. Heat very gently, stirring, until the butter and chocolate have melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 15 minutes.

Beat in the eggs, then sift the flours and cocoa over the top and fold in. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 1½ hours. Leave to cool in the tin for about 30 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. To make the icing, put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until almost boiling, then pour it over the chocolate and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth, then leave to cool and thicken slightly before pouring it over the cake.