Devil's Food Cake

Ingredients

75g plain chocolate broken into pieces 

175g unsalted butter , softened

275g light muscovado sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla essence 

250g plain flour

25g cocoa powder 

150 ml soured cream

TO DECORATE

450g granulated sugar

pinch of cream of tartar

2 eggs white

50g plain chocolate

1- Preheat the oven to mark 120' . Grease and base line three 20cm sandwich tins . Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water 

2- Cream together the butter and sugar until pale . add the eggs and vanilla essence to the bowl and sift in the flour , cocoa and baking powder . Beat with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy 

3- Stir in the melted chocolate and soured cream and divide equally among the tins . level the surface and for about 25 minutes until just firm to touch . transfer to a wire rack to cool

4- To decorate the cake , put the sugar in a heavy based saucepan with 150ml cold water and the cream of tartar . Heat gently until the sugar dissolves . bring the syrup to the boil and boil rapidly until 120' is reached on a sugar thermometer 

5- while the syrup is cooking whisk the egg whites in a bowl until they're stiff . Remove the syrup from the heat . Very slowly pour the syrup onto the egg whites , whisking well until the icing is smooth and peaking

6- Working fairly quickly , sandwich the cakes on a serving plate with a little of the frosting .Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake , swirling into peaks 

7- To make chocolates curls , pare curls off a slab of chocolate using a potato peeler . If the chocolate is too cold the curls will be small , more like grated chocolate . Either leave the chocolate in a warm place for a few minutes , or microwaves very briefly