Let Them Eat Cake, Cake

One of the many things I love about Lorraine Pascale is the fact that she interacts with fans all the time, particularly on Twitter. Lots of other people have realised how amazing her recipes are and regularly post pictures of their creations, a selection of which Lorraine retweets to her followers. Over the weeks there had been one specific cake that stood out as a firm crowd pleaser: a chocolate dream covered in immaculate rows of Malteasers: may I introduce the Let Them Eat Cake, Cake. What an invention. It’s super easy to make and looks incredible: even if you have limited skills in the baking arena you can easily pull this off. If you persevere and take your time with the decoration it provides a professional finish that will fool people into thinking you bought it from a bakery.

The recipe is from Fast, Fresh and Easy Food but I’ve put it below too so you can start making it immediately (after an emergency run to the shops for a basket full of Malteasers).

Ingredients:
For the sponge:
150g really soft butter (plus extra for greasing)
250g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
125g sour cream
4 medium eggs
50g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ vanilla pod (or couple of drops of vanilla extract)

For the buttercream:
100g dark chocolate
550g icing sugar
250g really soft butter
2 tbsp milk (or water)

To decorate:
4 x 135g packets of brown or white Malteasers

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, 350 degrees Fahrenheit, Gas Mark 4 and grease 2 20cm sandwich tins, or line then with baking parchment.

The part that makes this cake so ridiculously easy to make is the fact that the sponge is made using an all in one method. Put the butter, sugar, flour, sour cream, eggs, cocoa powder, vanilla pod/essence, baking powder and salt all in a large bowl. Mix with a hand-held electric mixer to give a smooth batter. See? Easy peasy.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Whilst the cake is cooling, make the buttercream. It’s a bold statement, but this is THE BEST BUTTERCREAM I’VE EVER MADE. Basically, take note, as you’ll want to make it again and again and again. It will become your go-to buttercream recipe, and I’m not even exaggerating!
Melt the chocolate (either in a microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water). In a separate bowl, sift the icing sugar, add the butter and milk (or water) and blend with a hand-held electric mixer until light and fluffy. Pour in the melted chocolate, stirring all the time.

Once the sponges are completely cool, place one of them on a serving plate or cake stand. Spoon several tablespoons of the buttercream onto the sponge and spread it around. It doesn’t matter if it’s messy as it’ll be hidden soon enough. Sit the other sponge on top and spread the remaining buttercream all over the top and around the sides. How much buttercream you use depends entirely on how partial you are to it. I don’t tend to use much – just enough to cover – as my family finds it too sickly and the flavour always a little overpowering. However, even if you’re not a buttercream fan you need to have a thick layer on the outside of the cake as otherwise your Malteasers will not stick! Make sure the cake is completely covered.

Now for the fiddly bit. Take the Malteasers and stick them all over the cake. I started with the sides, going in circles working up to the top of the cake and then took a ruler to make sure they would be in neat lines across the top. With it being a silly circular cake there will inevitably be a few gaps around the sides but don’t worry: no-one will notice but you!

And there you have it: the incredibly beautiful but deceptively simple Let Them Eat Cake, Cake.
I had a tub of the frosting left over so used it to make butterfly cakes the next day (the recipe of which I will blog soon too). This is also the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made. It was light, fluffy and a little moist; the buttercream wasn’t sickly or overpowering but the right amount of chocolaty-ness; and the Malteasers not only looked really effective but were a cute addition to the decoration. This is the perfect birthday cake (if you can find spaces to put the candles…) and I’d really urge you to give it a try. I guarantee that you, and your friends, family and neighbours won’t be disappointed!