Preheat the oven to 160 degrees c / fan 140 c and grease a 20cm round cake pan or spray with a cooking spray and line with baking paper

Break the chocolate into pieces into a small pan and add the butter

Dissolve the coffee with 125ml of cold water and then add to the butter and chocolate mixture and melt altogether over a gentle heat – do not boil

When its all melted together set aside to cool

In a bowl sift the 2 flours and bicarb

Add the sugar and cocoa until it’s all combined

In a separate bowl beat the eggs until light and fluffy

Add the buttermilk and briefly beat together

Add the cooled chocolate and egg / buttermilk mix to the dry mix and fold it all together by hand

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour 25 minutes – 1 ½ hours. Check by piercing the cake with a small sharp knife or skewer – it should come out clean. The top of the cake will be firm and may have a few cracks

Allow the cake to cool in the tin, and when its completely cool, remove from the tin and peel off the paper.

Cut into 2 or 3 horizontally (I think 2 layers are perfect), and ice the cake with the chocolate frosting

Break the chocolate up into pieces and melt in a double boiler with the butter

When it’s all melted together add the syrup and the cream and stir through to combine

Put the icing sugar into the food processor and whiz or alternatively if you are using a beater, sift the icing sugar into a bowl

Mix or process the chocolate mixture with the icing sugar until it all combined

I added the coffee and rum at the final stage and found that it totally enhances the chocolate flavours.