Chocolate Cake

This cake has a secret ingredient and is absolutely scrummy. Get your friends and family to guess what it is after they've tasted it - mine have always failed, yet it makes sense once you're in the know and can see what it replaces. I've only managed to get as far as icing the cake just once because NAH and I can't wait to eat it! Makes 1 seven inch cake.

Ingredients:

• 10 ounces (oz) self-raising flour, sifted
• 8 oz sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 7 oz mayonnaise (not the low fat kind)
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 8 fluid oz boiling water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Icing aka Frosting (optional):

• 2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 3 oz soft margarine
• 8 oz icing sugar, sifted

Method:

1. Mix together the flour sugar, baking powder and mayonnaise
2. Dissolve the cocoa in the boiling water
3. Gently stir this into the mixture with the vanilla essence until thoroughly blended
4. Turn into a greased and lined 7 inch deep, round cake tin
5. Bake at Mark 4 (180 centrigrade/350 fahrenheit - for fan-assisted ovens the centrigrade equivalent is 160) for 1 to one and a quarter hours.
6. Cool in the tin before removing

For the icing:

1. Dissolve the coffee and cocoa in the hot water
2. Cream together the margarine and icing sugar and beat in the cocoa liquid
3. Spread over the top of the cake

Enjoy!

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