Directions

1Equipment you need: 20cm Cake tin.

2Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line your tin with baking paper.

3Mix together the butter and sugar until they go pale and fluffy. Beat 2 of the eggs and add to mixture, also add half of the flour. Mix again. Beat the two remaining eggs, add to mixture together with the remaining ingredients, mix till smooth.

4Pour the mixture into tin. Bake for around 35 minutes. Test for doneness with a cocktail stick or skewer.

5Now make the buttercream The buttercream is the glue for this cake, you will need: 250g of soft,unsalted butter 500g icing sugar 100g good dark chocolate (around 80% cocoa solids), melted.

6Set the chocolate to melt in a bain marie, or in a bowl over a gently simmering pan of water. Mix together the icing sugar and butter, add the melted and cooled chocolate.

7Cool Remove the cake from the oven leave to cool, let the butter cream cool too, posibly in the fridge so it has the consistency of soft butter. Do the washing up, have a cup of tea and once everything has reached the right temperature start thinking about decorating the cake.

8Decorate Chocolate cigarillos, either white plain or milk or a mixture. (available for cake decor shops or on-line at Amazon) Fruit - Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. Smarties and M&Ms work too. Cake board or plate

9Cut the top of the cake flat and place it cut side down on a plate or cake board. Coat the cake with the buttercream, put cake in fridge for 10 minutes to allow the butter cream to set.

10Push the cigarilllos onto the sides of the cake as straight as possible making sure they touch the plate. Cool again to set, then fill with the fruit or confectionery that you like best.