1. Preheat oven to 180°C conventional or 160°C fan-forced.
2. Line the base and sides of a 22cm round cake tin.
3. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift cocoa and flour together then mix into creamed mixture alternately with milk.
4. Pour mixture into the prepared tin.
5. Bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
6. When cold, ice with chocolate ganache (recipe below) or dust with icing sugar if wished.
7. For the chocoalte ganache place all the ingredients in a bowl. Bring a small quantity of water to the boil in a saucepan. Remove saucepan from heat and place the bowl firmly on top. Stir until the chocolate melts and mixture is well blended. Allow mixture to thicken by cooling slightly.
8. Spread ganache over top of cake.

TOP TIP: Double the ganache recipe if you want to ice the sides of the
cake as well (or split the cake and fill it with ganache).