Fairtrade Chocolate Buttercream Cake
Recipe by Jane Asher
For the Cake:
150 g Butter
150 g Fairtrade Caster Sugar, plus 50 g for meringue
7 Free Range Eggs, separated
175 g Fairtrade Dark Chocolate, melted
125 g Self-Raising Flour, sifted
For the Buttercream:
100 g Butter, softened
175 g Fairtrade Icing Sugar, sifted
1 tbsp Fairtrade Ground Coffee or 1 1/2 tbsp Fairtrade Instant Coffee
1. Preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F/ Gas Mark 5.
2. Grease and line the base of a deep 23 cm/9 in round cake tin.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in egg yolks one at a time, and then stir in the melted chocolate.
4. Whisk egg whites until stiff, then fold in sugar to make meringue.
5. Alternately fold in flour and meringue to the chocolate mix.
6. Transfer mix to tin and bake for 45-55 min, or until the cake is firm to touch and a skewer can be withdrawn cleanly.
7. Leave to cool in the tin, then transfer to a cooling rack until cold.
8. Make the buttercream by infusing the ground coffee in a tbsp of boiled water, then strain; or dissolve the instant coffee in half a tsp of boiling water.
9. Beat the butter until light and fluffy.
10. Add the icing sugar to the mix a little at a time, beating well in between.
11. Gradually beat in the coffee.
12. Slice cake in half horizontally and fill with FT buttercream.