Chocolate fruit and jelly cake

The children went back to school today after nearly three weeks of Christmas holidays. After lunch I served their favourite cake – a rich chocolate cake that I bake and then top with fruit set in jelly. It’s not a brownie-style cake, not dense or heavy. The children absolutely love it. It bakes beautifully and always rises with a slight dome (I usually level it with a knife, or if I can’t be bothered, I simply turn the cake upside down). Highly recommended!

Ingredients for the Chocolate Cake:

• 125 ml milk
• 50 g dark chocolate (70%)
• 1 cup plain flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg
• ⅔–¾ cup caster sugar
• 70 ml sunflower oil
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Pour the milk into a small saucepan and heat it. Add the broken chocolate to the hot milk and stir until melted. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat the egg (whole) with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the oil, sour cream and vanilla extract and beat again. Pour in the cooled chocolate milk and mix. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda directly into the mixture and gently fold with a spatula just until combined.

Line the base of a 23 cm springform tin with baking paper. Pour in the batter and level the surface.

Bake at 160°C for about 25–35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. The cake will rise with a slight dome. You can trim the top gently with a knife to level it, or simply turn the still-warm cake upside down onto a serving plate and let it cool. Once cooled, place the springform ring back around the cake.

Additionally:

• 350–400 g summer fruit (e.g. raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants or cherries; frozen fruit can also be used)
• 2 packets cherry jelly (each for 500 ml water)

Dissolve the jelly in 750 ml boiling water (about ¼ less water than the packet instructions recommend). Leave to cool until the jelly begins to set but is still pourable. If it is too runny, it may soak into the cake.

Arrange the fruit evenly over the cake and pour the thickening jelly over the top. Refrigerate until fully set. Carefully remove the springform ring and serve.

Enjoy!