4 December, 2018
Chocolate Explosion Cake
Today is my Mother’s 70th birthday! Happy Birthday Mam! To mark this milestone she requested a chocolate explosion cake, and I was happy to oblige! So here’s the recipe….. It’s fairly straightforward to make. My cake decorating skills are far from brilliant but I was pleased with the finished article! If I can do it, then so can you…
To make a 3 tier cake, I used the sponge recipe from the ‘Oreo Drip Cake’ I made back in May (recipe posted May 24th, 2018). This is a chocolate sponge recipe that is made with brown sugar and cocoa powder. It is not too sickly, which is ideal when you are going to add a lot of chocolate decoration!
To sandwich together and cover the sponge I made a chocolate buttercream as follows:
Cream 375g unsalted butter in a freestanding mixer. Add 750g icing sugar and 3 tbsp milk and mix until combined. Melt 150g dark chocolate (I used chocolate drops) and mix into the buttercream until smooth. This recipe gives a buttercream that is light in colour and will therefore give a contrast against the dark chocolate drip.
Use the buttercream to sandwich together the 3 layers, and to coat the top and sides of the cake. I find it useful to roughly pipe the buttercream around the cake and then smooth with a palette knife. But my cake decorating skills could definitely do with a lot of practice!
To make the chocolate drip, melt 150g dark chocolate (I did this in the microwave in short bursts, stirring after each 20 seconds or so). Add 100g of softened butter and mix until melted and glossy.
I always allow the chocolate to cool slightly before ‘dripping’. You don’t want it too runny, but you don’t want it to set too quickly either! I check the consistency by stirring it and dripping it from a spoon! When I’m happy with the consistency, I use a piping bag to pipe the chocolate around the edge of the cake, encouraging it to drip over the edge in places. I then pour the rest of the chocolate on top and smooth out with a palette knife.
I then leave the chocolate drip to cool and set slightly before adding the chocolate decorations. Adding the decorations too soon may cause them to slide off or bend over! I used a mixture of Curly Wurlies, Twirls and Rolos to give a variety of heights!
Making this cake in December was certainly less challenging than the drip cakes I’ve made during the warmer, Summer months! My main tip would be to allow each stage to cool and set before moving on. During the Summer it is wise to keep the cake chilled!