Chocolate cake
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Separate the egg yolks from the whites, putting the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another. Whisk the yolks together with an electric whisk, until creamy and fluffy. Whisk in the sugar for 1 min. Sieve the cocoa gradually into the mixture, mixing it in thoroughly. Clean the whisk thoroughly and sterilise it in a jug of boiling water for 1 min. Whisk the egg whites for 3 mins, until standing in soft peaks. Add a third of the whites to the chocolate mixture and fold in. Repeat until all the egg whites are folded in. Pour the mixture into two 30 x 23cm trays lined with parchment. Bake for 20 mins until the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool, then remove from the trays to cool completely on wire racks. Trim a piece of baking paper so it is the same size as one of the baking trays. Draw the outline of a rabbit using the picture as a guide. Cut it out in three parts: the ear, the head and body, and the foot. When the cakes are cool, place the baking paper templates on the cakes and cut out the shapes from each cake with a sharp knife. To make the filling, whip the cream in a large mixing bowl for 1 min. Fold in the icing sugar. Place the bottom set of cake pieces on a board. Fix one set of parts together with the filling. Spread filling over the entire bottom layer of cake, leaving a small amount for the tail and nose. Layer the other cake pieces on top, ensuring there are no gaps between the parts. Chill the remaining filling. To make the icing, break the cooking chocolate into small pieces and place them in a glass bowl on top of a saucepan of simmering water. Add the butter to the bowl and stir until it melts and becomes smooth. Pour over the rabbit, smoothing with a spatula to cover the whole cake and wiping away any drips. Take a small blob of filling and place on the nose, then spread out to create whiskers. Shape the reserved filling into a ball with two spoons. Fix onto the body as a tail. Add a flower as the eye. Chill the cake until the icing is hard. In a large bowl, combine the butter with the flour and sugar, then rub the butter into the dry ingredients to make fine crumbs. Stir in the egg yolk and 2 tbsp of ice-cold water and bring together with a spoon. Knead until the pastry comes together into a smooth dough. Cover with cling film and chill for 20 mins. To make the chocolate ganache filling, heat the cream in a saucepan until lukewarm. When it is just about to simmer, break in the cooking chocolate. Keep on a very low simmer for approximately 2 mins, stirring until the chocolate melts and the mixture thickens. Allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Roll out the pastry on a surface lightly dusted with flour. Cut out 12 circles with a pastry cutter to line a 12-hole cupcake tray. Bring the off-cuts together and roll out. Cut out 12 slightly smaller lids for the tarts, dusted with more flour if necessary. Stamp out a bunny shape on each of the lids with a small cutter, or cut out by hand with a sharp knife. Grease the tray with butter, then line with the pastry bottoms. Fill the tarts with a heaped teaspoon of the ganache then fit the pastry tops. Press down gently on the edges to fix them. Bake for 20 mins until golden and cooked through. Allow to cool, then dust with icing sugar. Cover the bunny shapes with the back of a teaspoon to keep the chocolate ganache from being covered in icing sugar. Serve.