Perhaps a little something sweet and heavenly for New Years?

A glass of imperial ice with fresh mint leave and ice cubes is the way to go on New Years! Light and refreshing! If your sweet tooth is craving for something sinful, this layered chocolate cake is velvety and oh so delicious! It has a wonderful soft chocolate filling with apricot jam and a dark chocolate frosting. The cake also has a warm milk chocolate glaze on top garnished with cherries and blueberries. Chocolate on chocolate! This cake crowns a wonderful dinner party and it looks stunning too. Why not enjoy a glass of champagne and a spoonful of chocolate sweetness as we cheers to toast the New Year?

 Ingredients for cake

• 2 cups flour (4 dl)
• 200 g softened butter
• 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

filling in the middle of the cake

• 250g softened butter
• 500g sifted icing sugar
• 1/2 cup of sifted cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Apricot jam

Frosting for top of cake

• 1 cup Cream
• Dark Chocolate
• Hot Milk Chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and grease your cake pan (square or round). In a bowl, sift the baking soda, flour and cocoa. In another bowl, place the sugar, vanilla and butter and beat until fluffy with an electric mixer. Then stir in half of the flour mixture and buttermilk. Mix gently and add in the rest of the flour and buttermilk. Place the mixture into the greased pan and bake for about 40 minutes. Leave it in the pan for 10 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

2. Now it is time to make the filling (icing) for the middle of the cake: Place the vanilla, cocoa and butter in a bowl and mix until fluffy. Slowly add in the icing sugar. Beat in the milk for about 3 minutes until fluffy.

3. Cut the cake in half with a serrated knife. Place the base of the cake on a plate and spread the icing in the middle. Add another layer of apricot jam (lingonberry jam works well too). Place the top layer back on the base. You can use this filling to frost over the cake or then make a different dark chocolate one, as I did.

4. Cut the cake into squares and make the dark chocolate icing. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over a low heat. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped dark chocolate. Let it cool a bit and place the chocolate over the squared cake pieces. Let it cool down. In the end I garnished the cake pieces with warm melted milk chocolate, mint leaves, blueberries and cherries.