International Chocolate Cake Day will help brighten up a bleak January

There’s a day specifically set aside for the celebration of croissants, carrot cakes, Yorkshire puddings, a full week for beef and lamb and a whole month for vegans. Some of these are a bit faddish but whoever came up with the idea to have a day solely for the purpose of chocolate cake deserves a very big pat on the back. January can be a bleak month at the best of times and no better time to celebrate International Chocolate Cake Day than the 27th day of the month. If ever we deserved to eat chocolate cake its right now. After putting up with snow, countless storms and grey skies, the least we can do is splash out on a bit of chocolate cake to cheer ourselves up.

The first mention of chocolate cake in print was in the Dover Post newspaper, based in the state of Delaware in the USA, back in 1765. A doctor and a baker had teamed up in an old mill where they ground up cocoa beans between huge millstones to make a thick syrup. The liquid was then set in moulds and was meant to be transformed into a beverage.

Philadelphia based cook book author, Eliza Leslie, published the earliest chocolate cake recipe in 1847 in her book “ The Lady’s Receipt Book”. Unlike many of the chocolate cake recipes of today, Eliza used chopped chocolate instead of cocoa powder. My first recipe is for a no-bake Tiffin cake. The base is butter, sugar,syrup, cocoa, crushed biscuits and dried fruit. You could use any dried fruit you like and it’s a good way to use up small rogue amounts in the bottom of bags. The mixture is pressed into a cake tin and chilled before being topped with melted chocolate and chilled again. Slice like a cake and serve with tea or coffee. Or serendipitously Wednesday is Hot Chocolate Day. Hot chocolate has come a long way since my youth when you simply poured hot milk over hot chocolate mix and stirred. Nowadays its trendy to pipe freshly made marshmallow around the cup and flame it with a blow torch. The hot chocolate is poured in, topped with cream and more chocolate. It’s more like a dessert than anything else. I’ve included a recipe for hot chocolate using milk and cream infused with cinnamon and vanilla. Chopped dark chocolate is added and then topped with whipped cream and sprinkling of chocolate. It’s not too sweet but you’ll get all the sweetness you need in the accompanying Tiffin cake.

Individual molten chocolate cakes have become increasingly popular. You make a chocolate sponge and spoon into buttered baking moulds or ramekins. Bake for 10 minutes then poke a chocolate truffle into the middle of each one. Continue to bake and you get fluffy sponge with a runny centre. You could serve with icecream but I’ve added a recipe for a hot white chocolate sauce – while we’re embracing the chocolate lark.

There you are, two recipes to have for two food days. And in case you didn’t get enough bear in mind February is chocolate lover’s month – don’t want to peak too soon!