Chocolate Sponge Cake Recipe – Easy To Make
Chocolate sponge cake was one of the first recipes I baked when I got into home cooking, when I was a teenager. I suppose it’s not a surprising choice really for a 15 year old girl! I often would spend Sunday afternoon baking – much to the delight of my family as my efforts were usually served for Sunday tea!
This chocolate cake is a favourite recipe that I used to bake for my family when I was a teenager. It is easy to do and still tastes good today!
BeRo Recipe Book
I remember having the BeRo cook book – a small, thin book full of cake and biscuit recipes – and a quick google finds the very one!. And it appears you can send for a copy too – hmm might do that! It was the book that taught me how to bake scones and cakes.
When it first came out, apparently self-raising flour was only just introduced.
Interestingly in some European countries don’t really have self-raising flour – just plain flour and they add the appropriate amount of baking powder added. This is certainly so in Germany. I guess we could do the same but we have got used to it being done for us!
Bero Chocolate Cake Recipe
This chocolate cake is based on the BeRo chocolate cake recipe and is so easy to do and really delicious. There are many much more complex chocolate recipes out there but for an easy and quick to make cake, I am not sure there are any better! I like that evaporated milk is added to give it a milk chocolate flavour. You can however use full cream milk instead if you want to make it without rushing out to the shops!
Mint Chocolate Cake
An added flourish I always did when I baked this cake was to add some peppermint essence to the buttercream icing so you get a sort of chocolate mint cake. My family enjoyed it and so when I bake a chocolate cake, I do still add the peppermint.
More Chocolate Cake Recipes
Chocolate Sponge Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 200g / 7oz self-raising flour
- 150g / 5oz caster sugar
- 50g / 1.5 oz cocoa powder
- 100g / 3.5 oz butter
- 2 eggs
- 5 tablespoons evaporated milk
- 5 tablespoons water
- 100g / 3.5oz butter, soft and cut into pieces
- 200g / 7oz icing sugar
- 3 tablespoons water
- 6 drops peppermint essence (optional)
Buttercream Icing
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C
- Grease your sandwich tins and put to one side
- Sieve the flour and cocoa into a large mixing bowl
- Add the sugar and stir
- Rub the butter into the mixture with the tips of your fingers
- Beat the eggs together with the milk
- Pour the liquid into the bowl and stir thoroughly with the flour mix
- Divide evenly between the two cake tins smooth over to ensure even distribution
- Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the cake is springy to the gentle pressure of a finger
- Allow to cool for a few minutes in the cake tin
- Turn out and cool on a wire rack
- In a bowl beat together the butter,icing sugar and water until soft
- Add the peppermint essence if using
- When the cake is completely cool, decide which is the bottom cake
- Spread the butter icing evenly over the bottom tier, ideally using a pallet knife
- Carefully place the other cake on top
- Your cake is ready to slice!
- Keeps for a few days in a cake tin
Make the butter icing
Make the Cake
My favourite topping for this cake are ‘chocolate jazzies’ (called something else during my childhood), or hundreds and thousands, then I can reminisce about ‘past times’ as I enjoy it:)
A little tip: I cook all of my cakes on 150 c for about an hour so they do not dry out, and cover them with a little foil hat which I take off about fifteen minutes to the end of cooking. To get a more moist cake, grate some eating apple into it (peeled and cored).
Thanks for the recipe, Penny.
Good tips – thank you!
I have been making this be-ro recipe for 40 years!!!
It remains a very firm favourite with both my Sons and now with my Grandchildren.
My Son had his 40th Birthday Party and his main request was to have ‘ Mum’s ‘ chocolate cake.
I have always made this in a 7 inch tin ( as per the original recipe ) and always put melted cadbury’s milk chocolate on the top and then covered in smarties !!
This is why it is referred to as ‘ Mum’s Chocolate Smartie Cake ‘
I never consider using a different recipe, this is the best taste by far and would highly recommend it to anybody.
Agreed!
I made this cake two days ago , it was eaten up very quickly! Would be useful to have the temperature for fan and non fan ovens so I guessed at 160 deg C. It cooked pretty quickly in just over 20 minutes and had a different finish to the trad vic sandwich, more of a brownie on the outside. I made the buttercream with vanilla essence and only need to use 2/3 volume of the filling. My tip is beware it cooks more quickly than you might expect and hide it if you want it to last longer than it did in my house!