Dark Chocolate & Ginger Birthday Cake

   As most birthday's should go, mine this week has been full of cake. I turned 23 on Thursday so Boy Loves Food treated me to a gorgeous Victoria sponge from Bea's of Bloomsbury. Obviously every last crumb of said cake had already been devoured so I decided to get baking for a family BBQ this morning.

   Flicking through my books this morning I settled on a chocolate and marmalade cake from the Clandestine Cake Club cookbook, except I substituted the marmalade for some of my favourite Mackay's ginger preserve.

Dark Chocolate and Ginger Birthday Cake

(Recipe adapted from Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, serves 8-10)

     250g butter

     200g dark chocolate (I used Green and Blacks 70%), broken up into small chunks

     6tbsp Mackay's Ginger Preserve

     250g caster sugar

     4 large eggs

     250g self raising flour

     2tbsp cocoa powder

Chocolate buttercream:

     100g dark chocolate (60-70%), broken into small chunks

     200g butter, softened

     400g icing sugar

     2tbsp cocoa powder

• Heat the oven to 175 degrees. Grease and line two 20cm round, springform cake tins.
• Place the butter in a saucepan, and just before it has completely melted add 100g of the dark chocolate. Remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are fully melted and combined.
• Stir in the ginger preserve and mix well to break down any big lumps. Ass the sugar and eggs and stir until thoroughly combined.
• Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and gently fold in until just combined, then fold in the remaining chocolate. Pour the mixture, spreading evenly.
• Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the chocolate buttercream. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
• Beat the butter for a few minutes to soften and loosen it, then sift in the icing sugar and cocoa. Keep beating until you have a light, fluffy buttercream. Beat in the cooled but still molten chocolate until combined. Once the cakes are cool, sandwich together with a layer of buttercream, then cover the top with a thin layer of the remainder. Decorate with glitter and a generous sprinkling of hundreds and thousands.