Our classes are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your day and are ready to recreate your drip cake at home.
Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
- 90g whipping cream
- 250g milk chocolate
Method
- Pour melted chocolate onto cold cream and stir briskly until paste is formed
- Pipe instantly into small balls, leave to set approx. 15 mins
- Pick up and roll into balls (you will get covered in chocolate!)
- Dip each truffle into melted chocolate and leave to set
- Top the coated truffle with a small blob of white chocolate and top with sugar holly leaf
- Eat within 3 days
Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
- 350g melted dark chocolate
- 500g butter
- 500g sifted icing sugar
Method
- Melt chocolate.
- Beat together softened butter & icing sugar until very fluffy – scrape down.
- Add melted chocolate.
- Beat until smooth.
*WARNING*
- If you have to beat the buttercream during use (as it firms up) be aware that the more you beat it the lighter it will go due to aeration.
- It will be fine to use but may look like it’s a completely different colour.
Chocolate Sponge
Ingredients
- 200g butter or margarine
- 200g castor sugar
- 4 eggs
- 175g self raising flour
- 25g cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons milk
Method
- Cocoa powder has a tightening effect on the cake batter, milk will loosen it slightly and bring it to the correct dropping consistency.
- Cream the fat and the sugar until fluffy.
- Add the beaten eggs slowly (in 3 parts)
- Fold in sieved flour & cocoa powder
- Stir in milk – lightly mix.
- Pour into 8” ring lined with greaseproof paper – this recipe will yield 1 x 8” round.
- Bake 140`c for 40 mins or until firm to the touch.
- If you want Vanilla sponge use 200g flour and leave the cocoa powder out.
- This recipe can be used for cupcakes – bake 140`c for approx. 15 mins.
Stack Cake
- Stack all cool sponge on top of one another.
- Place cake board on top of the sponge and cut round using a sharp knife.
- Make sure that you keep the knife straight or you will create a plant pot shape.
- Slice layers of sponge in half and add filling – fudge, buttercream, jam etc.
- Never put jam & buttercream on the same layeras they will slide!!!
Dowelling the cake:
- Dowel rods are used to support the weight of the upper tiers.
- Never try to stack cakes without dowels or they will sink!!!
- Stick the dowel rods directly into the cake until it hits the cake board.
- Use a knife as a gauge and score where the top of the cake is.
- Score with sharp knife and snap the dowel rod (it should break cleanly)
- Place dowel rods back into sponge.
- Place thin cake board over the base sponge (containing dowel rods)
- Place sponge on top of thin cake board – your cake will now take the weight without sinking.
- For larger cakes you can use thicker dowel rods or plastics.
- Best tip – make sure dowels are even in length and not poking out of your sponge!
Coating with Buttercream
- Beat buttercream until soft.
- Use a dry palette knife “splodge” large amount of buttercream onto the back of the cake.
- You stand at 6 o`clock – place buttercream on at 12 o`clock
- Paddle palette knife and slide around cake towards 3 o`clock
- Move cake around until bare sponge is back to 12o`clock and repeat action with buttercream
- Entire cake should be covered and look very messy!
- Scrape up any excess buttercream.
- With wet vertical palette knife go around the cake to remove excess buttercream
- Repeat until it looks smoother.
- Place huge “splodge” of buttercream on top of the cake.
- Using wet horizontal palette knife, spread across until smooth.
- Smooth edges with wet vertical palette knife
- Chill in the refrigerator
- Repeat with second coat of buttercream.
- If you beat buttercream, it will appear to be a shade lighter than previous layer.
Ganache Drip
Ingredients
- Double amount of chocolate – cream 2:1
Example
- 100g Chocolate
- 50g Boiling Cream
Method
- Pour boiling cream onto melted chocolate and stir – you can add flavoured to this if required
- It should look like glossy mayonnaise.
- Place in piping bag
- Starting on the top of your cake about 1 cm away from the edge
- Squeeze the piping bag with small amount of pressure.
- Ganache should run freely down the side of the cake.
- Alternate with the pressure, the harder you squeeze the further down the cake the ganache will run
- Finish by piping ganache on top of the cake and smoothing with a palette knife.
- Decorate cake with chocolate embellishments.
- Chocolate bars
- Biscuits lustred with gold powders, edible glitter, truffles, Crips pearls
- Anything you require to make your creation pop!
We Hope You Enjoyed The Class
If you have any feedback about the class or questions for chef please do get in touch. Email: lovetocook@foodsorcery.co.uk
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