Simple Chocolate Celebration Cake

• Preheat Oven, Fan 150℃, Conventional Oven 170℃, Gas mark 2.
• Using a stand alone mixer or electric whisk, cream together the 175 grams Unsalted Butter and 250 grams Caster Sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add 1 tsp Vanilla Extract to the mix and whisk.
• In a separate bowl put 175 grams Gluten Free Self-Raising Flour , 60 grams Cocoa Powder and 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder.
• Add one egg to the caster sugar and unsalted butter and whisk until combined.
• Then add 2-4 tbsps of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk.
• Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all the ingredients are incorporated
• Evenly divide the mixture into the three prepared baking tins.
• Place the filled baking tins in the oven for 25-30mins. Or until the cake starts coming away from the edge of the tin and the centre of the cake is firm but springs back when pressed.

  Note: Do not open the oven frequently before it is fully cooked as this can cause the centre of the cake to sink.
• After approximately 25-30 minutes take the 3 cakes out of the oven and leave to cool a little in the tins. Then turn out onto cooling racks and leave to cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

• Place the 900 grams Icing Sugar, 60 grams Cocoa Powder, 170 grams Unsalted Butter, 150 ml Milk and A few Drops Vanilla Extract, into a mixing bowl and whisk for 5 minutes. The colour of the frosting may lighten a little as it becomes aerated.
• After 5 minutes use a spatula to scrape around the edges and the bottom of the mixing bowl, then give it one more 30 second whisk to ensure it is all well incorporated.
• Take one of the cooled chocolate cakes and place upside down (this gives a flatter top) on a cake stand or base of your choice.

  Add 1 – 2 heaped tbsps of the frosting to the top of the first cake and using a palette knife spread evenly.
• Then take the second chocolate cake and place onto the first piece and repeat the frosting layer.

  Repeat this with the third cake still adding a layer of frosting to the top.
• Leaving about 2 piping bags worth of frosting aside, use the rest of the frosting to spread evenly around the cake with a palette knife.
• Then cut the top off a piping bag insert the nozzle and fill with the chocolate frosting.
• Pipe the frosting evenly around the cake. I usually pipe one open star at 12 o'clock then the second at 6 oclock, the next one at 3 o'clock then 9 o'clock and so on until the edge of the cake is filled.
• Finally cover the top of the cake with the sprinkles (in-between the piped open stars)