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Chocolate & vanilla celebration cake

Chocolate & vanilla celebration cake on a cake stand

Chocolate & vanilla celebration cake

Name: Chocolate & vanilla celebration cake
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 15
Ingredients: 225ml vegetable oil plus extra for the tins; 300g plain flour; 100g cocoa powder; 2 tsp baking powder; 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda; 400g light brown soft sugar; 300ml milk; 2 tsp white wine vinegar; 100ml strong coffee or espresso, cooled; 2 tsp vanilla extract or paste; 3 medium eggs; 400g butter at room temperature; 800g icing sugar; 2 tsp vanilla extract or paste; 4-5 tbsp milk; food colouring pastes; edible flowers pastel sugared almonds or chocolate eggs

Cassie Best

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Serves 15

More effort

Prep: 35 mins

Cook: 30 mins

plus cooling

A star rating of 5 out of 5.3 ratingsRate

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Round off the Easter weekend with this stunning showstopper cake. The sponges taste even better after a day or two, so it’s a great get-ahead recipe

Freezable (sponges only)

Vegetarian

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Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

225ml vegetable oil

plus extra for the tins
300g plain flour
100g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
400g light brown soft sugar
300ml milk
2 tsp white wine vinegar
100ml strong coffee

or espresso, cooled
2 tsp vanilla extract

or paste
3 medium eggs

For the vanilla buttercream

400g butter

at room temperature
800g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

or paste
4-5 tbsp milk
food colouring pastes

To decorate

edible flowers

pastel sugared almonds or chocolate eggs

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Nutrition: Per serving

kcal778
fat40g
saturates16g
carbs97g
sugars80g
fibre2g
protein6g
salt1g

Method

step 1

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil three 20cm cake tins and line with baking parchment. Weigh out the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb and sugar into a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and whisk gently to combine. Shake the bowl to bring any lumps of sugar to the surface and squeeze these with your fingertips.
step 2

Measure the oil, milk, vinegar, coffee and vanilla into a jug, then add the eggs and whisk to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a whisk until smooth, making sure there are no pockets of flour at the bottom of the bowl – the mixture will be quite runny. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared tins, then bake on the middle shelf of the oven (or middle and top if they don’t all fit on one shelf) for 25 mins. Swap the tins around and bake 5 mins more.
step 3

Check the cakes are cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of each – if any wet batter clings to the skewer, return the tins to the oven for another 5 mins, then check again. Leave to cool in the tins for 30 mins, then turn the sponges out onto wire racks to cool completely. If making ahead, wrap the cooled sponges well and store in an airtight container for up to three days, or the freezer for up to two months.
step 4

For the buttercream, beat the butter using an electric whisk or in a stand mixer for a few minutes until smooth and creamy. Add half the icing sugar and beat again to combine. Add the remaining icing sugar, the vanilla and 4 tbsp milk and beat again to combine, adding a splash more milk if needed to make a smooth, fluffy buttercream. Divide between three bowls. Add a few drops of different food colouring paste to each bowl, then mix well – we used pastel pink, purple and yellow.
step 5

Spoon the coloured buttercream mixtures into three separate piping bags and snip off the tips. Pipe a dot of buttercream onto a cake stand or board and place a sponge on top to help keep it in place. Pipe small blobs of purple buttercream all over the top of the sponge by holding the piping bag directly above the cake, about ½cm from the surface, and squeezing the bag while pulling upwards to create a small peak.
step 6

Place the second sponge on top, then repeat the process with the pink buttercream. Add the third sponge on top, then neatly pipe blobs of yellow buttercream over the surface. Decorate with edible flowers, sugared almonds or mini chocolate eggs, if you like. Will keep in a tin at room temperature for up to five days.

Recipe tip

TWIST IT
Use this classic chocolate cake recipe as a base, then customise it with these flavour combinations.

Chocolate & rose: Add a few drops of rose extract to the buttercream and top the cake with chunks of Turkish delight and sugared edible rose petals.

Chocolate & almond: Swap 100g of the plain flour with 100g ground almonds, add a few drops of almond extract to the buttercream. Decorate with sugared almonds.

Chocolate & cardamom: Add the ground seeds from 10 cardamom pods to the batter.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, April 2022

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A star rating of 5 out of 5.3 ratings

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