Double-the-love chocolate cake

Double-the-love chocolate cake

A simple white chocolate buttercream looks great when it’s swirled over this gorgeous wedding cake – however roughly you do it

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 25

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 2 hrs

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 50 mins

plus cooling

Freeze un-iced sponges only

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base and sides of deep, round 20cm and 15cm cake tins with baking parchment - making sure the paper comes a few cms above the sides.
  2. Boil the kettle. Put half the butter and chocolate in a pan and gently melt, stirring. Mix together half of the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarb with a pinch of salt. Whisk 2 of the eggs and 200ml buttermilk together. Scrape the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Add 150ml boiling water and whizz everything together with an electric whisk until lump-free. Divide between the tins and bake for 40-45 mins, swapping round after 30 mins if they're on different shelves (the 15cm one should be done after 40 mins). To test they're cooked, push in a skewer and check it comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 again, so you end up with 2 x 20cm cakes and 2 x 15cm cakes.
  4. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Beat together the butter and icing sugar, then beat in the white chocolate. When the cakes are cool, split each one in half. Use the icing to sandwich back together so you end up with 2 x four-layered cakes. Sit the 20cm cake on your serving plate and spread some more icing over the top. Sit the smaller cake on top of that, and completely cover with icing. Decorate with the chocolate buttons.
  5. If you want to add some flowers choose something edible, like roses. Make a posy, wrapping the stems in a little damp kitchen paper then some cling film, add a ribbon and add to the cake on the day of the wedding.
Try

ICE IT

The buttercream will be fine in the fridge for up to a week, just bring it back to room temperature before using it so that it is soft enough to spread.

STORE IT

Once iced, the cakes will be fine for 24 hours in a cool-ish place, but not the fridge. The un-iced cakes will still taste great after two days, so if you don't have room in your freezer you can still start baking a couple of days before the wedding and ice the day before. Then all you have to do on the big day is poke in some flowers, if you like.

FREEZE IT

The un-iced, un-cut cakes can be well-wrapped in cling film and frozen for up to a month (just defrost overnight at room temperature before decorating).

PER SERVING

729 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 83g, fat 43 g, saturated fat 26g, fibre 2g, sugar 60g, salt 0.79 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2011.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo Sweetheart

    21 April 2011

    Sweetheart commented on this recipe

    looks BBBrrrrilliant

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  • Binder photo Sweetheart

    21 April 2011

    Sweetheart rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo williment

    30 April 2011

    williment rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    My daughter's birthday was on the day of the Royal wedding so this was the perfect cake to make. It was easy to make, looked impressive and tasted delicious. The sponge was lovely and moist.

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  • Binder photo lollypop

    10 July 2011

    lollypop commented on this recipe

    Hi can anyone tell me hoe to scale this recipe to make 1 25cm cake

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  • Binder photo cowen84

    02 October 2011

    cowen84 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    made this for my mums 60th. have to say that buttercream and 28 degree weather do not mix - it kind of collapsed!! absolutely delicious, but have to say that this would serve 50 rather than 25 as it is so rich you dont need a big serving - we ate 1/3 between 18 of us!!

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  • Binder photo lucy_painter

    13 January 2012

    lucy_painter rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Loved this cake! I made it for a street party for the royal wedding it went down very well and I agree with the comment made about it being very rich! But delish.

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  • Binder photo lucy_painter

    13 January 2012

    lucy_painter commented on this recipe

    Loved this cake! I made it for a street party for the royal wedding it went down very well and I agree with the comment made about it being very rich! But delish.

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  • Binder photo sunhat22

    09 February 2012

    sunhat22 commented on this recipe

    making it for my son's birthday!! very panicked!!!

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  • Binder photo victoria

    12 February 2012

    victoria commented on this recipe

    I made this for my housemate's birthday and it went down really well! Rave reviews :)

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  • Binder photo kittykat

    12 February 2012

    kittykat commented on this recipe

    HELP!!!!! Am making this for my best friend's Mum's 70th bday party a week today. Have just done a trial run, but have ended up with the crumb from the cake all in my beautiful cream icing! I did wash the pallet knife in between sandwiching the cakes together and decorating the outside. Where have I gone wrong?

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  • Binder photo CK1

    17 February 2012

    CK1 commented on this recipe

    Does anyone have any tips for transporting this cake? Am making it for my son's christening and while we haven't got to take it far am slightly nervous it will get wrecked in transit!

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  • Binder photo welsh lass

    18 April 2012

    welsh lass rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Used part of this recipe for a single tier cake. I concentrated on having a flat top and very square finish. I would recommend to others that the icing be popped into the fridge before using. You have to do a crumb coat first which is a thin coat of icing to cover the crumbs and cover the big gaps, pop cake into freezer to set the layers then build another layer making sure any surplus icing hasnt any crumbs on it. If it has then discard that bit in bin. I did 3 layers to achieve a fine finish. I used milk chocolate buttons. If transporting then you can use two cake bases and place on top of each other on site - using a ribbon to cover the cake base if using the thicker type. To scale recipe for different sizes google Lindys cakes and there is a chart on there.

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  • Binder photo Hacer

    03 June 2012

    Hacer rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo rosie11

    08 June 2012

    rosie11 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    The recipe was a bit confusing but the cake was good :)

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  • Binder photo KatyBeckford

    09 June 2012

    KatyBeckford rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This cake was totally delicious. Made it for a friend who was blown away. Will be making this again!

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  • Binder photo Cathybird15

    04 October 2012

    Cathybird15 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I used this recipe for the Great Burnham Bake Off last weekend. My oven was not working too well so I only made one tier. I decorated the bottom with giant white chocolate buttons along the bottom and placed raspberries in circles on top. Although I did not win a prize, half the judges took a chunk home, which I believe is better as they really enjoyed it! Next time, I will make it with two tiers!

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  • Binder photo whellad

    15 December 2012

    whellad commented on this recipe

    This cake is absolutely fabulous. It makes a whopper but don't be put off because it freezes really well so you can enjoy this cake all year round! What I really like is the fact that you can make this one a few days ahead as it just gets better and better. I made this for my son's birthday and even 3 or 4 days afterwards we were still enjoying rich, moist lovely chocolate cake. I am making this again soon as I have been looking for an excuse to have some more! I can't wait to get the taste buds going again! One thing I will suggest is to make the buttercream a tad looser by adding a tiny bit of water in order to spread it so that it doesn't tug a load of crumbs from the cake, which can make it look a little messy. Other than that, the best chocolate cake I've ever had. (And I've had many)

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  • Binder photo Kate O'D

    04 March 2013

    Kate O'D commented on this recipe

    This may seem a silly question, but do the 20cm and 15cm cake tins refer to the diameter of the tins? Thanks

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  • Binder photo rachelm

    11 March 2013

    rachelm rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Fabulous cake, very impressive to look at and to eat! Def recommend icing in stages as previously suggested- do a rough first layer keeping the remaining icing crumb free, allow to sit then finish with the " clean" buttercream to ruining the look with crumbs. Made as christening cake, definitely will make again

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  • Binder photo AliClayton

    01 May 2013

    AliClayton rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I LOVE this cake! I made it for my birthday and just halved the recipe, and separated the mixture into two cake tins. Halved the icing too, and it worked perfectly with a bit to scoff at the end! Went down such a treat that a friend has even asked me to make it for her birthday! Success all round, must bake!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 25

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 2 hrs

Cook time

Cook 1 hr 50 mins

plus cooling

Freeze un-iced sponges only

Ingredients

  • 400g butter
  • 200g plain chocolate
  • 700g plain flour
  • 800g caster sugar
  • 100g cocoa
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 4 large eggs
  • 400ml buttermilk

TO ASSEMBLE

  • 2 x 200g bars white chocolate
  • 550g softened butter
  • 550g icing sugar
  • 2-3 x 80g bags white chocolate buttons , flowers and ribbons, optional
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PER SERVING

729 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 83g, fat 43 g, saturated fat 26g, fibre 2g, sugar 60g, salt 0.79 g

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