• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Add self-raising flour, unprocessed cocoa powder, and baking powder to a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Set aside for later.
• Add unsalted butter to a large bowl and whisk for 30 seconds. Then, add caster sugar to the bowl and whisk for 3-5 minutes or until the mixture is nearly white in colour.
• Add ¼ of the eggs to the bowl and whisk well or until you can no longer see the eggs. Repeat this process for the rest of the eggs in the bowl.
• Next, add half of the flour mixture to the butter mix and add the milk. Use a large spoon or hand held whisk to mix all of the ingredients together. Repeat this step with the second half of the flour mixture until you get a silky consistency. Be careful not to over mix the mixture because this will make the cake dense.
• Grab 2 lightly greased 6″ non-stick cake tins and add equal amounts of the cake batter to each tin. Place the tins in the oven on the middle shelf and leave to bake for 25-30 minutes. Stick a skewer in each cake and if the skewer comes out clean then the cakes are ready.
• Once the cakes are ready leave them to cool upside down on a rack for at least 2 hours before decorating.

Strawberry Buttercream

• Whisk unsalted butter in a large bowl for 1 minute.
• Add half of the icing sugar to the butter and whisk for 2-3 minutes. Then, add the remaining icing sugar, strawberry extract, double cream, freeze-dried strawberries, salt, a few drops of pink food coloring and whisk for another 3-5 minutes.

How to Assemble the Chocolate Strawberry Cake

• Add the buttercream to a piping bag and set aside. To assemble the cake smooth 1 tablespoon of buttercream in the center of a cake board. Add the first cake layer to the board and add buttercream. Repeat this step for every layer until the cake is fully assembled. Finally, frost the entire cake with the pink buttercream and leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add 100 g of dark chocolate to a medium sized bowl with 2-3 teaspoon of oil. Heat in the microwave for 30 second intervals stirring in between until it becomes liquid and leave to cool.
• Apply a second layer of pink buttercream to the cake and drip chocolate sauce around the rim of the cake using a or squeezable bottle.
•  Use a star nozzle to create swirls around the rim of the cake, add fresh strawberries to the rim, and crushed dark chocolate to the center of the cake.