Fallen Fruit Chocolate Cake (Serves 22)
INGREDIENTS:
250g butter, softened and cubed; 500g icing sugar, sifted; 3–5 walnut halves; fresh blackberries, to decorate; edible gold spray; 4 sheets of edible gold leaf (optional); 2 figs, 1 halved, 1 quartered; 3–5 physalis; 3 Gala apples; 3 pears; orange, red, purple and green gel or paste food colouring
FOR THE DOUBLE CHOCOLATE SPONGE:
450g self-raising flour plus 2tsps bicarbonate of soda, sifted; 3tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder, mixed with 4tsps just-boiled water; 500g caster sugar; 240g butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing; 300ml buttermilk; 4 eggs; 1tsp pure vanilla extract; 150g dark chocolate, melted
METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 180ºc (350ºf)/gas 4. Place all the ingredients for the double chocolate sponge in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until combined and smooth. Transfer to the cake pans. Bake for about 40 minutes, until an inserted cocktail stick comes out clean, then allow to cool.
2. To make the buttercream, use an electric hand whisk to beat the butter until light and creamy. Add 1tbsp of water, gradually whisk in the icing sugar in manageable batches, until smooth and spreadable.
3. For the apple and pear crisps, preheat the oven to 80ºc (160ºf)/gas ¼. Slice the apples widthways and the pears lengthways with a mandoline to get thin slices. Flick out any seeds, then arrange the slices on the baking sheets. Bake for 1½ hours or until dried out.
4. Fill four small bowls with 1cm or ⅜inch of water. Add a little of each food colouring to separate bowls to get the four different colours. Use the paintbrush to brush the dried apple and pear slices with the colours. Return the coloured fruit to the oven for a further 30 minutes to dry. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
5. Sandwich the cakes together using 300g of the buttercream – the bottom side of the top cake should be facing up. Place the cake on a serving plate or cake board. Crumb-coat the cake using the remaining icing. This will be your final coating giving it a semi-naked look, so scrape off enough icing to reveal some of the sponge.
6. Spray the walnut halves and some of the blackberries with gold spray, then decorate using some edible gold leaf (if using). Set aside to dry.
7. Break the skewers into different heights and insert into the top of the cake with the points facing up. Push some of the figs and/or the physalis onto the skewers so that they stand upright and piled one on top of another.
8. Position the fruit crisps to the side and on top of the cake. Add the blackberries and walnuts, along with remaining figs/physalis. Decorate the figs with the remaining gold leaf. Spray the cake with gold spray.