Mary Berry's Marbled Chocolate Ring Cake

My daughters love to cook with me but over all else, they love to bake. This morning, before heading out for the weekly shop, I gave my eldest, Bridget, Mary Berry's Baking Bible to rifle through and select something for us to bake together this afternoon - she chose this Marbled Chocolate Ring Cake.

It is a fairly simple bake and results in a lovely crumbly texture with a rich iced finish. It went down incredibly well in our household - whilst I'm more of a Lemon Drizzle Cake girl, everyone else loves a chocolate cake.

I took this from Mary Berry's Baking Bible in the 'chocolate cakes' section - aside from a couple of very minimal modifications, this is Mary's to the letter.

Mary Berry's Marbled Chocolate Ring Cake

Here's how:

• 225g softened salted butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g self raising flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1.5 level tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1.5-2 tablespoons warm water

For the icing:

• 150g dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons water
• 100g butter
• 80g milk chocolate

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease a 3 pint ring mould generously. I use a silicon mould as find them easier to remove cakes from after baking that metal tins.

Omitting the cocoa powder and water - place everything else into a mixing bowl and fold in and mix well.

Once everything is well mixed, take a tablespoon and place 1 scooped tablespoon of the cake batter in the mould, and then repeat around the circular mould with small gaps in between each mound of batter. Use about half of the batter - this will help with the marbled effect.

Now pop the cocoa into a tea cup or mug and add the water and mix well, to an almost paste like consistence. Now add this to the remaining cake batter, and spoon over the batter in the gaps and all around until it is all in the mould.

Place the mould onto a baking tray and into the oven for 30-35 minutes. Test with a skewer that the cake is cooked through, and if so remove and leave in the mould for 5-10 minutes to cool a little. Then turn out carefully to cool completely - I place onto a wide chopping board as it's an easy place to ice the cake shortly.

For the icing, break the dark chocolate up and place into a bowl, with the butter and water. Place above a small saucepan of boiling water and allow to slowly melt, stirring with a wooden spoon to help it on its' way.

Once melted, it should have a beautiful glossy sheen to it, then spoon or pour over the cake to completely cover it. Now set aside somewhere cool and allow it to set for about an hour.

For the final part, break the milk chocolate into another bowl, and then place above the saucepan with recently boiled water. Once melted, transfer it to your piping vessel - you can of course use a piping bag, but I don't have much luck with them, so I just used a food bag and snipped a small hole in it.

Then finally drizzle over the cake in any pattern you'd like - the beauty of a homemade cake is the rustic appearance so let the children get involved and go crazy. Enjoy! 

Here are some other cakes and bakes you could attempt with your children as an activity during the holidays:
Simple Double Chocolate Traybake
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Guilt Free Apple Cake
Pig Face Cupcakes
Chocolate Cornflake and Marshmallow Cakes
Banana and Berry Breakfast Muffins
Deliciously Ella Sweet Potato Brownies
Monte Carlos Biscuits
St. Clement's Drizzle Cake