The 19th November was Tim’s birthday! He asked me to make him an “awesome” birthday cake for him to take to work. I came up with this cake and it seem to go down really well! I doubled the quantities of this recipe to make a bigger size to feed everyone and used a slightly bigger tin. I would love to know your thoughts on this recipe and if you try it!

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Lucya xx

Ingredients

Sponges

250g butter, softened

450g caster sugar

6 eggs

340ml buttermilk

400g plain flour

4 tsp baking powder

60g cocoa powder

a pinch of salt

Cookie base and decoration

1 quantity of cookie dough without the raisins (recipe here)

Ganache

400g Chocolate (I used 3/4 dark chocolate and 1/4 milk chocolate)

400ml double cream

 

 

Method

Preheat your oven to 175c (fan-assisted) and line and grease two 18cm cake tins.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one by one, beating well in between.

Stir in the buttermilk.

Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder in to the bowl and gently fold together.

Evenly divide the mixture between the two cake tins.

Bake in your preheated oven for around 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in to the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning the sponge on to a cooling rack and leaving to cool completely.

…making the cookie base and decoration…

follow the recipe as stated in the link without the raisins until step 4.

Fold a large piece of baking paper in half and place approximately half the cookie dough mixture in to the middle of the baking paper. Fold the other half of the paper over the top and roll out to approximately the same size as the cake tin you have used. Once you have a circle of dough transfer to your cake tin, lined with a fresh piece of baking paper.

To make the cookie decoration, grease the inside of of a cupcake tin and put half a tablespoon of cookie dough in to each hole.

Bake in the oven along with the base for approximately 10 minutes. Allow  the base to cool for a few minutes before taking it out of the cake tin. You want it to be cool enough to handle but still slightly flexible so it doesn’t crack while you take it out.

…then make your chocolate ganache…

In a clean bowl, break the chocolate in to small pieces.

Put the cream in to a saucepan over a medium heat, allow the cream to simmer for 1 minute before taking off the heat and allowing to cool for another minute.

Pour the cream on to the chocolate and using a whisk stir quickly until it is a smooth, even consistency.

Allow to cool in the bowl to a spreading consistency. (If it is to fluid when you try and build your cake it will just all ooze out of the sides!)

… constructing the cake

Split and level your two cakes. You need four layers.

Start by putting the cookie base on a plate or cake board.

Put a small amount of ganache on top of the cookie base and top with your first sponge layer.

Divide your chocolate ganache in to four. I find the easiest way to do this is to draw a cross through it while it is still in the bowl.

Spoon out one of the quarters and place on your chocolate sponge.

Spread the ganache so it goes right to the edge of the sponge and is an even layer.

Keep repeating until you have all of the sponge layers in place.

With the last quarter of ganache, you can either spread over the outside of the cake with a palette knife or put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir until a pouring consistency.

Transfer your cake to a wire rack, place a plate or a sheet of grease proof paper on your kitchen surface to protect it.

Pour the fluid ganache on to the top of the cake.

Using a palate knife, work the ganache to the edge of the cake and down the sides, making sure the whole cake is covered. Once you are happy that the cake is completely covered leave the cake to set in the fridge.

If you have any unwanted lumps of ganache you can easily get rid of these by running hot water over a palette knife, drying it with a tea towel and then smoothing the lump. The knife should be just hot enough to melt the surface of the ganache.

Finally decorate the top with the mini cookies.