Chicken recipes

Chicken-and-paneer butter masala

15 minutes

Pie recipes

Crumpled phyllo pork-and-tomato pie

40 minutes

Lamb recipes

Roast pumpkin wedges with swiss chard and quinoa pilau

30 minutes

Crumbed recipes

Caldo verde soup with ricotta and garlic baked potato

45 minutes

Pork recipes

The Lazy Makoti’s sticky pork belly with chickpea-and-bean salad

3 hours

Seafood recipes

Blackened trout with currant butter and lemony Brussels sprouts

15 minutes

Carrot recipes

Shaved baby root veggie salad with tahini dressing and carrot top pesto

Afternoon tea

Inside-out trout-and-cucumber finger sandwiches

Citrus recipes

Lemon soufflé with lemon curd ice cream

10 minutes

Birthday cake

Easy naked chocolate cake

By Siba Mtongana

Serves 12

Difficulty Easy

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cooking Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

410 g cake flour
600 g sugar
150 g cocoa
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
4 free-range eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 cup coconut oil
3 cups buttermilk
4 t vanilla extract
spun sugar and Easter eggs, to decorate

For the frosting:

3 x 250 g tubs cream cheese, at room temperature
100 g butter
500 g icing sugar, sifted
lemon, juiced

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly grease and line the bottom of 4 x 20 cm cake tins. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and create a well in the middle.
Place all the wet ingredients in a jug and whisk until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix gently. Do not overmix.
Divide the mixture between the pans. Tap the pans to release any air bubbles and place on a baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the cream cheese frosting by beating all the ingredients together until smooth. Transfer into a piping bag with a nozzle. Use the icing to sandwich the cakes together and to decorate the sides.
Top with spun sugar and Easter eggs.

Cook's note: If I don't have time to make spun sugar, I use candy floss. Halve the cake recipe to make two layers.

I’ve always loved baking and my passion for it has been reignited by my children – we often cook and bake together over weekends. I created a version of this recipe for the Australian Baking Festival I attended late last year. I love using candy floss as a topping, but when I have a bit more time I make an easy spun sugar to crown my cake. It looks incredible.

Browse more cake recipes here.

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