Fiona Cairns' All-In-One Chocolate Cake for Sir Paul McCartney's Birthday

They say it's your birthday
Well, it's my birthday too yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you

Lennon/McCartney

On Saturday, Tim and I went to see The Beatle Boys, a Beatles tribute band from Sydney, play a 50th anniversary concert.  The first half was a replica of the 1964 concert, while the second half was a medley of various Beatles songs.  I was surprised by how good they were - I went along simply because I am a Beatles fan, but now I am a Beatle Boys fan too!

Fittingly, it is Sir Paul McCartney's birthday today.  He turns 72.  I wanted to mark the occasion with a cake.  From my research, I gleaned that Paul's favourite type of cake is chocolate cake, so that is what he shall have!  I also read that Paul also orders his Christmas cakes from Fiona Cairns, so I chose to make one of her recipes for his birthday.

The recipe that I selected is the All-In-One Chocolate Cake from p77 of The Birthday Cake Book.  As the name suggests, the cake is made all in one bowl - easy peasy and little washing up.  The cake and the icing both use cocoa instead of chocolate, so the cake is also inexpensive to make.

Instead of making a square cake, as the recipe instructs, I made 2 round cakes in 9" sandwich tins and stuck them together with some of the buttercream icing.  Here's a peek inside:

For decoration, I used dark chocolate bits to spell out Paul's name, and Milky Way Magic Stars around the edge.  Again, these decorations were super simple and keeping in theme with the chocolate cake.

To make this cake, you will need:

225g butter, softened
180g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
225g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cocoa powder mixed with 3 tablespoons boiling water to form a paste

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line your cake tin/s (I used 2 x 9" sandwich tins).

Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl of a stand mixer, then add the butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla and cocoa paste.  Beat well until combined.  Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, and bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes or until cooked through.  (My cakes took a little longer.)  After cooling in the tins for 5 minutes, turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool.

For the icing:

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
150g butter, softened
200g sifted icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the butter until pale and creamy, then add the other ingredients and beat well until the icing comes together.

Ice and decorate your cake as you please.