Mary Berry’s chocolate cake recipe

There are a few things you can try to ensure your chocolate cake is moist after baking. Make sure you bake the mixture as soon as it’s mixed and resist opening the oven door until it’s at least three-quarters cooked.

Also, avoid adding too much cocoa powder - stick to the chocolate cake recipe measurements, as too much powder will make it dry.

Covering a chocolate cake with chocolate icing is simple. Spoon some of the mixture into the centre of the cake and spread the ganache icing to the outside of the cake using a palette knife. Add another spoonful or two at a time carefully making sure you don't push the icing over the edge of the cake when smoothing. 

Mary says: 'When icing a cake, seal the top with apricot jam first to prevent crumb contamination.' The fruity spread is used to form a barrier between the cake and the icing, ensuring a smooth finish. If you don't like apricot you can use raspberry or strawberry instead but smooth is best.

If the ganache is still quite warm it may be too runny to use. Wait for it to thicken and cool if you want to avoid it running down the sides of the cake.

Mary Berry explains: ‘A cake mixture which curdles holds less air, and therefore produces a heavy, dense cake.’ There are some simple ways to avoid the curdling occurring.

Mary says: ‘Eggs must be at room temperature, added gradually and beaten in thoroughly between each addition to prevent the mixture from curdling…

‘As a precaution against curdling, a spoonful of sifted flour can be added with each egg addition but the remaining flour needs to be very lightly folded in.’ 

The baking legend explains: ‘The all-in-one method means just that. All of the main ingredients go into the bowl at the same time to be mixed. There is no need for any creaming or rubbing in of the fat and no dangers of the mixture curdling because of the egg being added too quickly.’ 

The only prerequisite is that the butter or margarine must be soft and not oily. 

Yes, in this recipe Mary uses self-raising flour and baking powder. She does this to compensate for the air not incorporated during the initial creaming stage as she uses an all-in-one method.

Although visually you will get similar results your cake will be lacking in flavour. Mary explains: ‘Cocoa powder is pure chocolate liquor from which much of the cocoa butter has been extracted… Don’t be tempted to substitute with drinking chocolate powder, as the added sugar in drinking chocolate will give a very milk, sweet flavour to the cake.’