Chocolate owl cake
See this recipe step by step

Chocolate owl cake

A fun chocolate birthday cake decorated with buttons, biscuits and marzipan - bound to be a hit with young children

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 25

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 1 hr

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 4. Base line a 20cm round and a 18cm square cake tin.
  2. Put the butter and chocolate into a saucepan and stir over a very gentle heat until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
  3. Sieve the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Add the sugar, breaking up any lumps if necessary. Beat together the eggs and soured cream and pour onto the flour mixture. Add the melted chocolate and mix all well together until smooth.
  4. Divide the mixture equally between the two tins and bake in the oven for about 55 mins - 1 hour. A good way to check that the mixture is equally divided is to put a cocktail stick into each mixture and the levels should be the same.
  5. To make the icing, put the butter into a bowl and beat until creamy. Add the icing sugar and cocoa a little at a time beating well between each addition. Add the milk to mix to a soft spreading consistency.
  6. To assemble, place the round cake on a large wooden board or tray (the cake will need to served on this). Place the round cake tin on the square cake about 12cm from one edge and cut around the edge of the tin. Remove the smaller piece and place at one end of the round cake to represent the ears.
  7. Using the remains of the square cake cut almost in half to give an oblong (for the fence) and a semi circle (for the wings). Place the oblong at the bottom of the owl cake. Slice the semi circle in half horizontally through the middle. Arrange one piece each side of the round cake to make the wings.
  8. Spread the butter icing all over the cake. Cut the flake bars into small pieces and arrange on the wings to represent feathers. Keep the flake crumbs. Arrange milk chocolate buttons over the body. Place chocolate fingers on the bottom cake to make the fence. Using a fork, mark the icing to make the owl's ears. Use the flake crumbs to make a v-shape between the ears like a 'widow's peak'. Arrange the white chocolate buttons in two circles to make the eyes and place a milk chocolate button in the centre of each. Use a third of the marzipan to shape a beak and use the remaining marzipan to make two feet.
  9. Place the candles on the 'fence' part of the cake. You can also pipe a child's name or message on the fence using writing icing.

PER SERVING

527 kcalories, protein 6.6g, carbohydrate 57.4g, fat 30.6 g, saturated fat 18.3g, fibre 1.4g, sugar 47.3g, salt 0.7 g

Recipe from bbcgoodfood.com, June 2012.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo WinnieTheRat

    30 June 2012

    WinnieTheRat commented on this recipe

    Not really into baking cakes but I'm tempted by this one. He looks great!

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  • Binder photo January

    01 July 2012

    January commented on this recipe

    i can't wait to try this. My mother in law is turning 80 years and loves owls. She will just love it.

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  • Binder photo Lingdada

    01 July 2012

    Lingdada rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    What a fun way to enjoy owls!

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  • Binder photo bambi1011

    01 July 2012

    bambi1011 commented on this recipe

    Cant wait to try this! The kids will love it hopefully.

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  • Binder photo Mrs piggy

    01 July 2012

    Mrs piggy commented on this recipe

    The design is amazing. Is the actual chocolate cake any good?

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  • Binder photo ollyeyes

    01 July 2012

    ollyeyes commented on this recipe

    will be baking this one love owls.

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  • Binder photo schizopear

    07 July 2012

    schizopear commented on this recipe

    i will be making this cake to celebrate my love of owls, and cake! looks awesome!

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  • Binder photo Ge0Jane

    22 July 2012

    Ge0Jane rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is a really good recipe. Now, I've never made a novelty cake before and it was thankfully surprisingly easy to construct. The sponge was moist and the buttercream was delicious. The only downside was it was almost too cute to eat! I made this for a friend's (25th!!) birthday and she was delighted. Would make again without hesitation.

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  • Binder photo HKS

    24 July 2012

    HKS rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this for my sons 1st birthday and it looked and tasted great. I added orange zest to the sponge mix and oj to the icing instead of milk and it tasted lovely and moist even after several days. I used low fat creme fraiche instead of sour cream and low fat marg which worked absolutely fine and made me feel a bit better about all the sweets which didn't quite make it onto the cake!

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  • Binder photo Emma

    05 August 2012

    Emma rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made it for my sister's 21st, absolutely wonderful! Looks amazing and tastes it too!

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  • Binder photo beckyrayner

    05 August 2012

    beckyrayner rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    really easy to make, looks great and is one of the nicest chocolate cakes ive ever made !!

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  • Binder photo Doreese33

    06 August 2012

    Doreese33 commented on this recipe

    I made this for my daughters birthday and was so pleased at how it turned out,the chocolate sponge cake is the most delicious we have ever tasted and the owl design had jaws dropping !!!WoW!!!

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  • Binder photo NemracSenrab

    16 August 2012

    NemracSenrab rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    We had this cake made for us at school - a great laugh as well as a really nice cake. I'm not a great chocolate cake person but I was suitably impressed! :)

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  • Binder photo schizopear

    17 August 2012

    schizopear rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    not just brilliant in appearance but delicious too!

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  • Binder photo boo

    20 September 2012

    boo commented on this recipe

    i think i slightly undercooked mine as the cake didnt come out of the tins too well but i managed to fix it and it turned out very well.The cake looks incredible and tastes so moist! A great celebration cake but need enough time!

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  • Binder photo Katie M

    25 September 2012

    Katie M rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I've never made a novelty cake like this before and it went brilliantly - cake is delicious and the step-by-step guide got me through without any problems. Very cute cake!

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  • Binder photo poptart

    05 October 2012

    poptart commented on this recipe

    My 7 year old wants me to make this for her birthday and even tho I'm an experienced baker I'm quite nervous about assembling it as I've never done a novelty cake before!! Wish me luck and ill come back and rate it when I've made it!!

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  • Binder photo ginadicamillo

    06 October 2012

    ginadicamillo commented on this recipe

    Hello, I think this owl cake looks awesome any suggestions on how to make a white version of this cake? Or would there be a way that you could food color white or cream cheese icing brown? While i love chocolate cake, i don't like chocolate incing i prefer cream cheese icing or vanilla! I love anything with an "owl " theme have been collecting owl figurines etc. etc. since i was 8 years old....

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  • Binder photo poptart

    07 October 2012

    poptart rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    IT WORKED!!!! Lovely cake and not too hard to put together. Ok so mine didn't look exactly like the picture but had much praise for it so must be alright!!

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  • Binder photo Rachael

    11 October 2012

    Rachael commented on this recipe

    I loved making this cake and I was so happy and proud with final results! It looked exactly like the picture above. Cost a fair bit to get all the ingredients but well worth the time and effort. Not only did it look good but it tasted delicious too! The whole process was fun but the decorating was the most enjoyable :)

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 25

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 1 hr

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 325g butter
  • 325g plain chocolate
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 325g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 450g light soft brown sugar
  • 5 large eggs
  • 300ml soured cream

FOR THE ICING

  • 250g butter
  • 350g icing sugar , sieved
  • 50g cocoa , sieved
  • 2 tbsp milk

DECORATIONS

  • 8 giant white chocolate buttons
  • 2 packs milk chocolate buttons
  • 2 chocolate Flake bars
  • 60g yellow marzipan
  • 125g pack chocolate finger biscuits
  • candles (optional)
  • writing icing (optional)
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PER SERVING

527 kcalories, protein 6.6g, carbohydrate 57.4g, fat 30.6 g, saturated fat 18.3g, fibre 1.4g, sugar 47.3g, salt 0.7 g

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