Double chocolate Cake with vanilla rose cream Recipe

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease and line two 20cm/8in sandwich tins. 

For the cake, place all of the cake ingredients, except the boiling water, into a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon, or electric whisk, beat the mixture until smooth and well combined. Add the boiling water to the mixture, a little at a time, until smooth

Divide the cake batter between the sandwich tins and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the top is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and stand for 30 mins, before transferring to a wire rack for 10 mins before attempting to ice them.

For the chocolate icing, melt the chocolate and 200mls of cream together in a saucepan over a low heat. Take the pan off the heat and stir vigorously until smooth, allow to cool.

With the remaining 200ml of double cream, add another 1/2 tsp Steenbergs vanilla paste, a pinch of rose petals and a small dash of Steenbergs Rose water and whisk until soft peaks appear.

When the cake has cooled, spread the whipped rose cream icing over the top of one of the chocolate cakes, then carefully top with the other cake. Add the chocolate icing on the top and decorate with remaining ingredients.

Top Tip: the white chocolate curls can be made by ‘peeling’ the white chocolate bar with a vegetable peeler.

To replace vanilla paste with vanilla extract its roughly half the quantities eg 1/2 tsp of paste is 1/4 tsp of extract.