Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake.

My boyfriend's birthday was last weekend and this called for chocolate cake! I made an easy peasy "all in one" method with white and dark chocolate ganache. Oooft. Aaaand marbled chocolate shards to decorate. It was simple to make, simple to put together and incredibly yummy! :)

Ingredients

Sponge:
4 Medium eggs
Softened butter
Self raising flour
Caster sugar
50g Coco powder
4 tbsp Warm milk

Ganache:
150g White chocolate
150g Dark chocolate
500ml Double cream 

Chocolate Shard Decoration:
150g White chocolate
150g Dark Chocolate


Method

1. Weigh out the 4 eggs in their shells. Note this weight as this will be the weight of the butter, sugar and flour. Now add all the ingredients for the sponge into a large mixing bowl adding the milk whilst using an electric hand mixer. 

2. Once all the ingredients have come together and you have a chocolaty batter add this to greased sandwich tins and bake in an oven at 180c for 30-35 mins. Check the sponge with a skewer after 30, if it comes out clean it is baked. 

3. For the ganache: Put 250ml of cream in each saucepan and put on a low heat to warm through. DO NOT LET IT BOIL! Whilst the cream is heating up chop up the white and dark chocolate separately.  Take the cream off the heat and add the white chocolate pieces to one pan and the dark chocolate pieces to the other and stir until the chocolate has melted. Leave to cool.

4. For the chocolate shard decoration: Lay out a 1m long piece of baking sheet. Separately melt the dark chocolate and the white chocolate. Then take 8 Tbsp of melted dark chocolate and splodge 8 separate splodges on to the baking sheet. Now take 8 Tsp of melted white chocolate and splodge these on top of the 8 dark chocolate splodges. Swirl together with a fork to create a marbled effect. Leave to completely harden.

5. Now the cake is cooked and cool place the white chocolate ganache on top of one of the sandwiches. Place the other Sponge on top and cover the entire cake with the dark chocolate ganache ensuring you cover the sides too. This will be the yummy glue to stick the chocolate shards on the side. 

6. Take a sharp knife and dip in a cup of hot water to warm. Now cut the chocolate shards to create a neat straight line on the bottom of the shards. Don't cut off the pretty feathers you've created but just find a bit that can be trimmed. Now carefully peel off and stick on to the side of the cake. Paper side to cake side and cut side on to bench.

Keep the cake covered and in the fridge as it's covered in yummy ganache!

Side view of the chocolate shard decoration.

Shiny chocolate ganache.