Irish Foodies Chocalong

White Chocolate Cake

I unfortunately couldn’t do the Irish Foodies Cookalong last Friday as I was so busy with work. And I was seriously stumped at what to make. If I had known a chocolate cookalong was coming up I probably would have made my Chocolate Truffles then! Nevertheless, as it so happened I had to make a cake for my parents’ 25th Wedding Anniversary so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. I also thought it would be a great time to bust out my Le Creuset heart shaped pan (the ending result didn’t look too heart shaped though!).

I based it roughly on a cake I made for my sister’s 18th, Ultimate Chocolate Cake from BBC Good Food but instead I decided to use white chocolate as I thought it was more suiting for a 25th Anniversary Cake!

White Chocolate Sponge Cake with Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

Sponge Cake

130g butter, room temperature

130g caster sugar

200g self raising flour

3 eggs, beaten

Vanilla essence

Buttercream Icing

150g icing sugar

75g butter, room temperature

Vanilla essence

White Chocolate Ganache

225g white chocolate

180g cream

25g butter

Method:

1. For the sponge cake, heat oven to 180°C. Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy. Add half the beaten eggs and flour and beat in. Add the remaining egg mixture with a teaspoon of vanilla essence and beat. Fold in the remaining flour gently until all is incorporated. If you find the mixture if a tad bit too dry, add a small dash of milk to moisten it up again.

2. Divide the mixture into cake pans. I used two, but one layer was rather large so if I were to make this again I’d probably divide amongst 3 pans. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown and a knife comes out clean when inserted to the middle of the cake. Allow to cool fully.

3. For the buttercream icing, cream the icing sugar and butter together until smooth. Add a dash of vanilla essence and beat to incorporate. Cover with a damp tea towel until needed.

4. For the white chocolate ganache, heat the butter and cream in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. Take immediately off the heat and pour over the white chocolate in a bowl. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. I tried to cover my cake in the ganache straight away but it was thick enough so I’d leave to cool for a few minutes so it has a chance to thicken up.

5. To assemble the cake, sandwich the layers together with the buttercream icing. Spread the ganache over the outside to coat, allow to set and then apply the second layer. Applying a second layer will make the recently icing smoother and less likely to have cake crumbs mixed in it!

6. Decorate as you wish and then devour!

Of course, if you want to make this extra chocolatey, you can add some melted chocolate to sponge mixture or to the buttercream icing. Or you can use milk or dark chocolate. Beware though, the above recipe is rich enough without the addition of extra chocolate!

I plan on making a cake similar to this very soon but instead I want to make it a chocolate orange cake. Watch this space……