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Instructions |
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Preheat the oven to 180C {350F} gas mark 4. Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins with removable bases.
Put the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Beat with a hand held electric mixer until it looks light and fluffy. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla and eggs and add this into your bowl of sugar/butter mixture. Whisk until it's fully combined and smooth. Next add the flour, baking powder and bicarb of soda until you have a well combined and creamy mixture. Don't overmix though.
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Divide the mixture equally into the prepared tins and level with a spatula. Pop in the oven for 35 minutes. I started checking mine after 25 minutes, at which point a swapped them around on the shelves in the oven. They will be ready when a skewer or toothpick comes out clean, which should be about 30 - 35 minutes.
Leave to cool in their tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Don't worry about any cracks as they will be covered by the ganache later.
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To make the ganache. Gently heat the cream in a saucepan until it starts to bubble, remove from the heat, then add the chocolate and stir like crazy until the mixture is completely melted and there are no chocolate lumps left. Leave to cool for about 2 hours until the mixture has thickened {you can pop in the fridge but the ganache may lose its glossiness}.
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Place one of the cakes onto a plate or cake board. Then spoon about 1/3 of the ganache onto the cake and spread evenly. Place the other cake carefully on top and spead 1/3 of the ganache onto the top and smooth with a pallet knife. Then spread the rest of the ganache around the sides of the cake until it is fully covered. You should have enough ganache to give it a good thickish covering.
Lastly, stick the chocolate fingers all the way round the cake and cover the top of the cake with the Smarties. If you wanted a bit of extra wow factor you could sprinkle on a little edible glitter too.
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Originally Submitted
6/13/2013
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