Ingredients
Ingredients
400g butter
200g plain chocolate
700g plain flour
800g caster sugar
100g cocoa
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 large eggs
400ml buttermilk
2 x 200g bars white chocolate
550g softened butter
550g icing sugar
2-3 x 80g bags white chocolate buttons, flowers and ribbons, optional
Tip
Store it
Once iced, the cakes will be fine for 24 hours in a cool-ish place, but not the fridge. The un-iced cakes will still taste great after two days, so if you don’t have room in your freezer you can still start baking a couple of days before the wedding and ice the day before. Then all you have to do on the big day is poke in some flowers, if you like.Ice it
The buttercream will be fine in the fridge for up to a week, just bring it back to room temperature before using it so that it is soft enough to spread.Freeze it
The un-iced, un-cut cakes can be well-wrapped in cling film and frozen for up to a month (just defrost overnight at room temperature before decorating).
Direction
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
Grease and line the base and sides of
deep, round 20cm and 15cm cake tins
with baking parchment – making sure the
paper comes a few cms above the sides.
Boil the kettle. Put half the butter and
chocolate in a pan and gently melt,
stirring. Mix together half of the flour,
sugar, cocoa and bicarb with a pinch
of salt. Whisk 2 of the eggs and 200ml
buttermilk together. Scrape the melted
chocolate mixture and egg mixture into
the dry ingredients. Add 150ml boiling
water and whizz everything together
with an electric whisk until lump-free.
Divide between the tins and bake for
40-45 mins, swapping round after
30 mins if they’re on different shelves
(the 15cm one should be done after
40 mins). To test they’re cooked, push in
a skewer and check it comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in their tins.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 again, so you
end up with 2 x 20cm cakes and
2 x 15cm cakes.
Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over
a pan of barely simmering water. Beat
together the butter and icing sugar, then
beat in the white chocolate. When the
cakes are cool, split each one in half.
Use the icing to sandwich back together
so you end up with 2 x four-layered
cakes. Sit the 20cm cake on your serving
plate and spread some more icing over
the top. Sit the smaller cake on top of
that, and completely cover with icing.
Decorate with the chocolate buttons.
If you want to add some flowers
choose something edible, like roses.
Make a posy, wrapping the stems in
a little damp kitchen paper then some
cling film, add a ribbon and add to the
cake on the day of the wedding.
