Brooklyn Blackout Chocolate Cake

This is a lovely triple layer cake recipe, but I found the custard making very tedious and would suggest making your own icing. I usually make mine just by creaming about a 150g of butter (salted, not unsalted) and then adding icing sugar and cocoa powder to taste… then (my secret ingredient) adding some condensed milk (not evaporated) and/or golden syrup. Then you can play around with the icing sugar/cocoa/syrup ratio to get the consistency and taste you want. As it’s so hit and miss I usually end up making loads more than I need and freezing the excess for next time! It works very well for plain icing too and everyone in my family prefers it to the hummingbird icings which are very light (they tend to be whisked for at least 5 minutes) – but then we all have a VERY sweet tooth!

This is the recipe I used.

Brooklyn Blackout Chocolate Cake

(From The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

Ingredients:

• 100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 260g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 45g cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• a pinch of salt
• 170g plain flour
• 160 ml whole milk

Chocolate custard:

• 500g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 125g cocoa powder
• 200g cornflour
• 85g unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

You will also need: 3 20cm cake tins, base-lined with greaseproof paper

Steps :

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (Gas 3)
2. Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or a handheld electric whisk) and cream until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition.
4. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt until well mixed.
5. Add half the flour, then all the milk, and finish with the remaining flour. Mix well until everything is well combined.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 mins.
8. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

For the chocolate custard:

1. Put the sugar, golden syrup, cocoa powder and 600ml of water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally.
2. Mix in the cornflour with 120ml of water, then whisk into the cocoa mixture in the saucepan.
3. Bring back to boil , whisking constantly. Cook until very thick, about 10 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract.Pour the custard into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill until very firm. Putting it into a larger area, like a roasting tin, will make it cool quicker of course.
5. When the cakes are cold, using a serrated knife, slice a thin layer off one of the cakes.Put this layer into a food processor and process to make fine crumbs.
6. Put one cake on a cake stand and spread about one-quarter of the chocolate custard over it with a palette knife. Place a second cake on top and spread another quarter of the custard over it. Top with the last cake and spread the remaining custard over the top and sides.
7. Cover with the cake crumbs and chill for about 2 hours.

For the Peppa cake, I made a second looser custard, with less cornflour and didn’t bring it to the boil, so it would stay nice and gloopy for the mud at the top. The regular custard was used to sandwich the cakes together and stick the flakes to the side.

Chocolate Pastillage/Chocolat Plastique/Modelling Chocolate

(the models of Peppa and George)

Ingredients:

• White Modelling Chocolate:
• 1 lb white chocolate
• 1/3 cup golden syrup , about 7 tbspns (add more if needed)**

Dark Modelling Chocolate:

• 1 lb semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup golden syrup (add more if needed)*

Milk Modelling Chocolate:

• 1 lb milk chocolate
• 1/3 cup golden syrup (add more if needed)*

Instructions:

1. Melt chocolate – I break it up and do it in microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring between each.
2. Then put golden syrup in another bowl and warm till it’s the same temp as the choc – not hot, just warm.
3. Get a spoon ready and add the syrup to the chocolate in one go – stir quickly, firmly and immediately. # Within seconds it will become firm and one solid lump. Put it into a freezer bag or wrap in clingfilm and put in fridge. I usually wait a couple of hours, but the recommendation is overnight.

It’s a bit hit and miss with the different chocolate you can buy, but a good quality confectioners chocolate is usually safe. Being a cheapskate, I bought Lidl chocolate this time and found it crumbled and was oily, so don’t buy that! But I have bought other cheaper makes and they have been fine.

To use, break off or cut off a piece and warm with your hands – once flexible, try to keep it from getting too hot (it will go oily). If you have a marble slab, roll and shape it on that – it will keep it at the optimum temp once active. Unlike fondant, you can add to your sculpt and smooth it perfectly for very precise results (not me this time though!!).

You can add a little icing sugar to prevent sticking, but if it’s the right consistency and not too warm, it shouldn’t stick anyway

You can add colour. Paste or powder colours are best, liquids tend to be too thin and can ruin the texture of the chocolate.

--Mad Margaret (talk) 18:17, 10 May 2013 (UTC)