Double-the-love chocolate cake
Add to favourite + Print Print

Double-the-love chocolate cake

By Sarah Cook

A simple white chocolate buttercream looks
great when it’s swirled over this gorgeous wedding cake – however
roughly you do it

  • Prep:2 hrs
    Cook:1 hrs 50 mins
    Plus cooling
  • Serves 25
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 729
  • fat 43g
  • saturates 26g
  • carbs 83g
  • sugars 60g
  • fibre 2g
  • protein 7g
  • salt 0.79g

Ingredients

  • 400g butter
  • 200g plain chocolate
  • 700g plain flour
  • 800g caster sugar
  • 100g cocoa
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 4 large eggs
  • 400ml buttermilk
  • 2 x 200g bars white chocolate
  • 550g softened butter
  • 550g icing sugar
  • 2-3 x 80g bags white chocolate buttons, flowers and ribbons, optional

Tip

Store it
Once iced, the cakes will be fine for 24 hours in a cool-ish place, but not the fridge. The un-iced cakes will still taste great after two days, so if you don’t have room in your freezer you can still start baking a couple of days before the wedding and ice the day before. Then all you have to do on the big day is poke in some flowers, if you like.Ice it
The buttercream will be fine in the fridge for up to a week, just bring it back to room temperature before using it so that it is soft enough to spread.Freeze it
The un-iced, un-cut cakes can be well-wrapped in cling film and frozen for up to a month (just defrost overnight at room temperature before decorating).

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base and sides of deep, round 20cm and 15cm cake tins with baking parchment – making sure the paper comes a few cms above the sides.

  2. Boil the kettle. Put half the butter and chocolate in a pan and gently melt, stirring. Mix together half of the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarb with a pinch of salt. Whisk 2 of the eggs and 200ml buttermilk together. Scrape the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Add 150ml boiling water and whizz everything together with an electric whisk until lump-free. Divide between the tins and bake for 40-45 mins, swapping round after 30 mins if they’re on different shelves (the 15cm one should be done after 40 mins). To test they’re cooked, push in a skewer and check it comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins.

  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 again, so you end up with 2 x 20cm cakes and 2 x 15cm cakes.

  4. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Beat together the butter and icing sugar, then beat in the white chocolate. When the cakes are cool, split each one in half. Use the icing to sandwich back together so you end up with 2 x four-layered cakes. Sit the 20cm cake on your serving plate and spread some more icing over the top. Sit the smaller cake on top of that, and completely cover with icing. Decorate with the chocolate buttons.

  5. If you want to add some flowers choose something edible, like roses. Make a posy, wrapping the stems in a little damp kitchen paper then some cling film, add a ribbon and add to the cake on the day of the wedding.

Suggested recipes from this collection...