• Prep Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

• Serves: 10 +

Ingredients

• 500ml SPAR sugar
• 500ml SPAR self-raising flour
• 2ml SPAR salt
• 250g SPAR choice butter or margarine
• 250ml SPAR cocoa
• 250ml water
• 2 SPAR eggs
• 125ml buttermilk
• 5ml bicarbonate of soda
• 5ml vanilla essence

Chocolate Icing:

• 250g SPAR icing sugar
• 125ml SPAR cocoa
• 75g SPAR choice butter or margarine
• 75ml buttermilk

To decorate:

• Chocolate leaves

Method

1. Sift the sugar, flour and salt together.
2. Heat butter or margarine, cocoa and water to boiling point. Pour over the sifted dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Beat eggs, buttermilk, bicarbonate of soda, vanilla essence and cinnamon together and add to flour mixture.
4. Mix till smooth and pour into a 24cm square greased baking tin.
5. Bake at 180 degrees C for about 45 min or until a tester comes out clean.
6. Icing: Heat all the icing ingredients together and cool. Pour over the cooled cake.
7. Decorate with chocolate leaves.  Keep the cake in the fridge before serving.

Chocolate Leaves: You can use any leaves that are not hairy or too limp.  Ivy and rose leaves work well. Place a few blocks of cooking chocolate in a jug. Melt the chocolate in the microwave.  Place the chocolate in the microwave for 20 - 30 seconds at a time. Stir until it melts. Chocolate melts from the inside so it is important to stir even if the blocks of chocolate are still whole.

Make sure the leaves are dry before starting. Using a small brush paint the leaves on one side with the chocolate. Make sure the chocolate covers the leaf but do not paint over the edges. Place in the fridge until the chocolate hardens. Gently pull the real leaf off the chocolate one. We brushed the leaves with gold lustre food colouring.