The Chococo Surprise Cake

Serves6-8

Minutes60

Difficulty5/10

Ingredients

260g unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
260g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs, lightly beaten
260g self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon milk, if required
Food colourings of your choice

Chocolate ganache:

200g dark chocolate, chopped
250ml double cream
25g unsalted butter softened

Decoration idea (optional):

A bar of good quality milk chocolate to make curls (the simplest way to create little curls is to use a cheese grater or drag a knife across the back of the bar for thin shards – get an adult to do this for you!)
Sifted icing sugar to dust
Decorations of your choice

Equipment

x2 20cm round cake tins, lightly greased and dusted in cocoa powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C, 350 F, Gas Mark 4
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk until creamy & light in colour. Gradually add the beaten eggs and vanilla extract to the sugar & butter mixture
Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently with a tablespoon. If the mixture feels very stiff, add the milk to loosen it slightly.
Split the mixture into 3 portions in 3 separate bowls. Add a touch of colouring to 2 of the bowls, leaving one plain.
I like to add just a little colouring (max 1/4 of a tsp) to make my colours, but your call if you want them more vibrant!
Stir in the colourings gently. You do not want to overwork the cake mixture at this point as it will make your cake heavy.
Put small dollops of each of the colours around the tins in a random pattern & then smooth the top with a palette knife.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sponge springs back when lightly pressed and a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning the cakes out on a cake rack to cool completely.
To make the ganache, put the chopped chocolate and cream and butter in a heavy-based pan and warm gently. Stir until the chocolate melts and blends into the cream.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes to thicken slightly before decorating your cake.
Spread one half of the cooled cake with 5 heaped tablespoons of ganache and sandwich together with the other half.
This is best done while the cake is still on the wire rack and with a sheet of baking parchment underneath to catch any drips.
Working quickly, pour the rest of the ganache over the top of the cake and smooth it over the top and sides with a palette knife.
To finish it, I like to arrange chocolate curls in the middle of the cake, dusted through a sieve with a touch of icing sugar, but you could decorate it however appeals to you, or leave it plain – it is still just as stunning.