Cacao Chocolate & Ginger Christmas Cake

300g Food Thoughts 70% Dark Cacao Melts
300g unsalted butter
300g dark muscovado sugar
200ml water
3 tbsp black treacle
150g plain flour
150g self-raising flour
50g Food Thoughts Cocoa Powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tbsp ground ginger
pinch of salt
400g golden caster sugar
6 eggs
100ml whole milk
50ml vegetable oil

1. Melt dark cacao, butter, dark muscovado sugar and treacle in a large saucepan with the water, over a low heat until you have a delightfully thick melted syrup.
2. Combine the flours, cocoa, bicarb, salt, ground ginger and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl.
3. In a jug, fork together eggs, milk and oil until combined. Pour this into the dry ingredients and stir into a thick paste.
4. Pour the melted chocolate mixture onto the dry paste and mix to combine into a thick and glossy chocolate batter.
5. Divide the batter evenly between 3x 8” sandwich cake tins, each one lined with baking parchment.
6. Bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a cocktail stick comes out with no wet batter attached to it. Allow these cakes to cool completely in their tins before turning out for decorating.
7. Head on over to my recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake Frosting and use this to sandwich your layers of cake together and to cover the top and sides. Aim to get the sides as neat as you can using either a large palette knife or a side scraper if you have one. Press Cacao Chocolate Gingerbread Christmas Trees around the sides of the cake.