Chocolate Sponge Cake or Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 170g self-raising flour
• 170g Stork margarine
• 170g caster sugar
• 35g cocoa power
• 15ml / tablespoon baking powder
• 3 eggs

Icing

• 125g icing sugar
• Several drops of vanilla essence
• 15ml water
• 2.5ml yellow food colouring
• 2 drops red food colouring (extra drop may be needed)
• Orange extract (2.5ml)

Buttercream

• 175g icing sugar
• 75g Stork margarine
• 15g cocoa powder
• 5ml water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 (fan oven)
2. Grease your tins using marge
3. ‘Cream’ (beat) butter/marge and sugar together
4. Beat your eggs then add to marge/sugar. Mix, but don’t worry about getting it smooth – just mostly combined
5. Add flour, cocoa powder and baking powder (no need to sift, usually) and mx together until smooth
6. Split mixture evenly between two tins
7. Put in oven on the same shelf, if possible, for 16 minutes. Try not to open the door during cooking
8. It is done when it springs back when you press it with your finger (or use a skewer – needs longer if any cake batter comes out)
9. Turn out onto wire cooling rack and leave to cool
10. For buttercream: Cream marge, icing sugar and vanilla essence together – spread evenly over base of cake
11. For icing: Mix icing sugar, water, vanilla essence and colouring until paste is formed – spread evenly over top of cake and, if desired, sprinkle with decorations like hundreds and thousands
12. Put two cake halves together

Cupcakes

Mixture should make 24 cupcakes.  Reduce cooking time to 14 minutes.  For buttercream icing, above instructions will produce right amount.  For glace icing, add 50% to above.