This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
67g unsalted butter (room temperature)
134g golden caster sugar
2 medium eggs
30g cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
114g plain flour
1 drop vanilla extract
107ml semi-skimmed milk
For the ganache icing:
175g Galaxy® milk chocolate (broken into small pieces)
175ml double cream
For the decoration:
88g Maltesers
Black writing icing and red coloured sugar balls or red writing icing
Method:
For the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C.
2. Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
3. Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
4. Gently beat in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
5. Add half the flour, all of the milk and the other half of the flour mixing well between each addition to ensure everything is well combined.
6. Pour into the cake tins as evenly as possible and smooth with a palette knife.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
8. Leave the cakes to cool a little in the tins before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the ganache icing:
1. Heat the cream in a pan but don’t allow it to boil.
2. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.
3. Stir until melted and smooth.
4. Allow to cool until thick.
Assembly:
1. Put one cake on a cake stand and spread 1/3 of the ganache over it and add 12-14 Maltesers in a grid to support the second layer evenly.
2. Put the second cake on top and spread another layer of ganache.
2. Use the remaining ganache and Maltesers to decorate the cake.
2. For an extra touch for your Comic Relief Bake Sale , add red nose faces to a few of the Maltesers using the writing icing and sugar balls.