Ingredients
The Vanilla Sponge
230gm Unsalted Butter (softened)
400gm Caster Sugar
320gm Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
5 Eggs (at room temp)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
170 ml Sour Cream
Chocolate Sponge
185 Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
50gm Cocoa Powder
250gm Caster Sugar
170gm Unsalted Butter (softened)
120ml Sour Cream
2 Eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
The Buttercream
225gm cooks Plain Chocolate (70%) broken into pieces
4 Large Egg Whites
200gm sifted Icing Sugar
270gm Unsalted Butter (softened)
The Glaze
125gm Dark Chocolate – finely chopped
75gm Unsalted Butter (softened)
Decoration
Truffles
Plain Chocolate Shards
White Chocolate Shards
Filling
Mini Easter Eggs
M&Ms/Chocolate buttons
Preparation Method
Preheat the oven to 190C (Mk 4). Lightly grease and line 2 (8ins) cake tins (min 4ins deep) with baking parchment.
Make the Vanilla Sponge in a large bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk for about 5mins until light and fluffy. Set aside.
Finally, sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a medium bowl and finally add 1/2 tsp salt. Again, set aside.
In a large jug, beat the eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream. Set aside.
Make the Chocolate Sponge. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and the cocoa powder into a large bowl and stir through the sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt. Add the butter and beat gently with an electric mixer until the mixture looks like wet sand. Set aside.
Beat the sour cream, eggs, egg yolk and vanilla extract into smooth mix. Set aside.
Finish the vanilla sponge by gently beating 1/3 of the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture, followed by 1/2 of the soured cream mixture. Repeat with a further 1/3 of the flour, the remaining soured cream mixture and the final 1/3 of the flour, folding until smooth. Set aside.
Finish the chocolate sponge by gradually adding the soured cream mixture and 70ml of boiling water into the flour and beat until smooth.
Divide the vanilla and chocolate sponge mixtures amongst the two tins – adding them with alternate spoonfuls. Swirl together with a palette knife (don’t overmix for a good marble effect) Bake in the middle of the oven for 1hr 10mins-1hr 15min until springy to the touch. Leave to cool for 10mins before turning out onto a wire racket cool completely. Remove the parchment from the sponges.
Trim the top off of the two cakes (to make flat surfaces). Cut one of the cakes (horizontally) in half to produce two “cakes”, each about 1inch deep.
Take the second cake and cut a circle about 2 inches from the outside, remove the middle to form a ring.
Make the buttercream. Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for about 20mins. Put the egg whites into a large bowl with the icing sugar, and stir to combine. Set the bowl over the same pan of water and increase the heat slightly so that it is simmering gently. Beat with an electric whisk for about 5mins until thick and stiff like a meringue, and a teaspoon stands upright in the mixture. Remove from the heat and whisk for a further 10mins until completely cooled, thick and stiff. Whisk the butter into the cooled, melted chocolate. Gradually add the chocolate mixture to the meringue, whisking until light and fluffy. If it looks like it’s going to split, either the chocolate or the meringue were still warm, cool in the fridge for 15 mins. Beat again until smooth.
Put one of the cut sponges onto an 8ins round cake board as the base layer. Spread one side of the “sponge ring” thickly with the buttercream and position onto the base sponge layer. Fill the centre with M&Ms and Easter Eggs. Spread the top of the ring, thickly, with buttercream and place the 2nd “half” of the sponge on top creating three layers of cake.
Spread the remaining buttercream over the top and side of the cake with a palette knife. Chill for 30mins.
For the glaze, put the chocolate and butter into a medium bowl and set over a barely simmering water. Still until melted. Pour over the cake, smoothing the top with a clean palette knife and encouraging it to drip over the edges.
Decorate with chocolate shards and truffles. Chill in the fridge to set. Remove 2 hours before serving.
[Alternatively, use the cake recipe as the basis to bake innovative designs such as an “anti-gravity” cake!]
Ormside Kitchen 