This is my fail-safe choclate cake – a recipe that exists in an exercise book and filled with hand-written recipes, mostly from my mum. This was the chocolate cake she made, and still makes, when I was growing up but as I got older I increasingly put more milk into make it moister and now put a whole cup of milk. When you are a bit heavy-handed with the cocoa anyhow, it makes little difference to the outcome. It was also one of the first recipes I mastered as a grown-up.

I top it with Vienna Cream, straight out of the Women’s Weekly kids cake book, again cause it works everytime. And it makes a great afternoon tea treat for these autumn holidays (particularly as the Easter chocolate runs out).