I learned this recipe many years ago from my first cake teacher. The mixture is more like a liquid batter that needs to be poured into your cake pans. Trust me, this mix rises beautifully and the cake keeps really well... if you can bear to keep it!

You will need: 2 x 20-cm sandwich tins, lined and greased

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C (325°F) Gas 3.
2. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a small saucepan with the instant coffee granules and 160ml water. Keep the temperature low and stir the mixture occasionally; turn off the heat when only a few small lumps of chocolate remain – these will melt in the heat of the mixture and turning the heat off early prevents burning.
3. Sift the flours, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a bowl and add the salt. Make a small well in the centre and set aside.
4. Beat the eggs, oil and buttermilk together in a jug before tipping this mixture into the dry ingredients and stirring it into a thick paste.
5. Pour the melted chocolate and butter mixture on top of this paste and fold everything together with a wooden spoon until you have one glossy mixture in the bowl.
6. Divide your cake mixture between two prepared cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (or with only a few tiny crumbs attached to it). Allow the cakes to cool completely in their pans.