Easter Garden Truffle Cake
Ingredients (Serves 16)
◆ 225g dark 72% cocoa chocolate, broken into pieces
◆ 225g plant or dairy butter
◆ 225g dark brown soft sugar
◆ 1tsp vanilla extract
◆ 6 medium eggs, separated
◆ 85g self raising flour
◆ 15g cocoa powder + extra for dusting
◆ 140g ground almonds
◆ 300g chocolate fudge icing
◆ 200g green vanilla frosting
◆ 250g natural coloured marzipan
◆ Sugar flowers, sugar carrots and piping icing 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, Fan Oven 160°C Fan Oven, Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin. Gently melt the dark chocolate and butter in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla. Cool for 10min. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the egg yolks. 2
Whisk the egg whites until stiff and gradually fold into the chocolate mixture along with the flour, cocoa and ground almonds. Spoon into the tin, smooth the top and bake for about 1hr until slightly risen and firm to the touch. Cool for 15min, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
3
To decorate, trim a little from the top of the cake and crumble the trimmings into a bowl – you need about 50g of crumbs. Cut the cake through the middle. Spread thickly with 200g chocolate icing and sandwich back together.
4
Spread the sides and half of the top with the remaining chocolate icing. Sprinkle with the cake crumbs. Spread the other top half thinly with green icing, then pipe with more green icing to resemble grass. Transfer to a serving plate.
5
Roll out 150g marzipan thinly and cut into fenceposts; arrange around the cake. Pipe remaining green icing as grass around the bottom of the cake. 6 Dust the remaining marzipan with a little cocoa powder. Knead well and shape into rabbits. 7 To serve, decorate the cake with sugar flowers and carrots. Pipe detail on the rabbits and place on the cake.