Semi-Tutorial: Evil! Cappuccino Cake {Plus, get in on Mug Rug Swap!}

Well, I thought I had a cottage pie tutorial all sorted out as I have had requests to do one, but now I can't find any of the pictures. And I don't have time to show you this:

And anyway it's a friggin' travesty, and I'm not sure whether to share this piece of crap with the world as a tutorial or not. Ugh. (It's the flying geese that I'm pissed off about - can you tell they're shit?)
So, instead I'll give you a recipe that's always a huge hit wherever I take it. And it's evil because you seriously will not want to share it. (I even eat it for breakfast when it's around!):

This recipe is from Mary Berry's Baking Bible, which is my #1 go-to cookbook when I need a little baked something or other.

Use deep sandwich tins for this, as there's alot of it and it might spill over. This cake is awesome fresh, and if you put it in the fridge, the texture changes a bit into something even more moist.

• 50g (2oz) cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons boiling water
• 3 large eggs
• 50ml (2 fl oz) milk
• 175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
• 1 rounded tsp baking powder
• 100g (4 oz) softened butter - if your butter is stored in the fridge and you need to soften it, measure it out into a bowl and fill the bowl with tepid water. Don't melt it! By the time you're done measuring out everything else you can drain off the water and your butter is softened!
• 275g (10 oz) caster sugar

For the filling and topping:

• 300ml (1/2 pint) double cream
• 1 tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
• a little cocoa powder or drinking chocolate for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160 Fan/Gas 4. Grease two 20 cm (8 inch) deep sandwich tins and line the base of each with baking parchment.
2. Measure the cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl, add the boiling water and mix well until it has a paste-like consistency.  Add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl and beat until just combined. The mixture will be a fairly thick batter (don't over-beat it!)
3. Divide the cake mixture between the prepared tins and gently level the surface. Bake for 25-30 mins (in my fan oven, 17- 20 mins is enough) until the cakes are well risen and beginning to shrink from the side of the tin. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.
4. To finish the cake, whip the double cream and dissolved coffee until it just holds its shape. Use half of the cream to fill the cake and the other half on top. Gently smooth the surface with a palette knife and dust with sifted cocoa powder or drinking chocolate. 

Yay! Cake!

Also, please sign up for the Mug Rug Swap - there are new links on the Mug Rug Swap page! Also, Erin from two more seconds is hosting 10 days of Mug Rug Madness, with lots of tutorials and ideas and giveaways, so go check it out!