This is a real champion cake – moist, dark and keeps well. People who don’t know what they’ve been given, tend to ask for the recipe, assuming it’s a ‘proper’ flour cake! See the next recipe for a dairy free version.

½ cup cocoa.

½ cup boiling water

150g softened butter

1 ¼ cups sugar (275g)

3 eggs (size 7)

1 Tbsp vanilla

360g (2 ¼ cups) Gluten Free Cake and Biscuit Mix

½ tsp baking soda

3 level tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder

1 cup milk

Mix cocoa and boiling water thoroughly and leave to cool while preparing the rest of the cake

Line the bottom of a 23cm tin with paper, or alternatively, grease and flour the base of a large glass baking dish (20 x 30 cm is good). The cake can be baked in and served from this dish.

Cream butter and sugar, with the vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add flour mix, baking powder soda and milk. Mix thoroughly.

Add cocoa mix and beat well

Bake at 180C for 45-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Sift icing sugar over the cooled cake before serving.