This is quite possibly the most perfect homemade birthday cake for any boy or girl. However if, like our great-nephew Edward, chocolate and Coca-Cola are amongst your favourite, yet normally restricted food items, it becomes even more perfect. This James Martin recipe sounds quite unusual (I have adapted his original method slightly to ensure that it delivers foolproof results), but it is rich, fudgy and absolutely moreish. Happy eleventh birthday Edward!

You will need…

Cake

• 250g butter
• 250g self-raising flour
• 300g golden caster sugar
• 3 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder
• A generous pinch of bicarbonate of soda
• 200ml of classic Coca-Cola
• 75ml milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Frosting: 120g softened unsalted butter, 400g sifted icing sugar, 6 tbsp cocoa, 4 tbsp classic Coca Cola
• To decorate: Haribo coke bottle sweets, birthday candles

To make…

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 24cm cake tin – the cake batter is quite runny so you need a springform tin with a tight seal, not a basic loose-bottomed tin. Line the base with baking parchment.

Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarb into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar. Gently melt the butter and Coca Cola together. Allow to cool a little and then mix thoroughly with the dry ingredients, milk, eggs and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Once baked, remove it from the oven and allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack. Once properly cooled, unclick the springform clip and turn the cake out onto the rack. Peel away the baking parchment and invert onto a serving plate ready to apply the frosting.

To make the frosting (you can do this while the cake is baking and cooling), add the butter to a large mixing bowl and sift into the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Beat thoroughly and then stir in the Coca Cola. Spread it evenly over the top and sides of the cold cake using a palette knife. Decorate with the Haribo coke bottle sweets and birthday candles.

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