Mary Berry's chocolate tray bake with a vanilla frosting

Following on from the lemon tray bake, here is the chocolate one! I used Mary's tray bake recipe for the cake and used a vanilla frosting from The Hummingbird Bakery. The chocolate cake went down VERY well with the children and was again really easy to make. You can use any frosting you like or just sprinkle icing sugar over the top. I used some coloured sprinkles and chocolate drops to decorate.

For the cake:
Roasting tin 30cm x 23cm
275g self-raising flour
2 level teaspoons baking powder
4 level tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons hot water
225g softened butter
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon milk

For the frosting:
160g butter
500g icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
50ml whole milk

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line your tin.
Blend together the cocoa and hot water the allow to cool slightly. Measure all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat until well blended.
Turn the mixture into the tin and level out. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes until the cake has shrunk a little from the sides and the sponge springs back when pressed gently in the centre. Leave to cool a little in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.


To make the frosting, whisk the icing sugar with the butter in a large bowl (this can get a bit messy!). When it reaches a sandy consistency, add the vanilla essence and milk, then continue whisking until smooth and fluffy.

Smooth onto the cake. You can decorate it however you like, I added some sprinkles and choccy drops. Trim the edges if you like, then cut into squares. Serves about 25.