Ultimate Triple Chocolate Ganache Cake

First things first, preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4, then grease and line 4 x 7” round cake tins.

Pop the flour, Baking Powder, Bicarbonate of Soda, Cocoa Powder and Sugar in a large bowl and mix together. Once all mixed together nicely, make a well in the centre. 

In another bowl mix together the eggs, milk, oil and Vanilla Extract. Pour your wet mixture into the well in the centre of your dry ingredients and gently begin to fold together. Mix together until all the ingredients are combined and your mixture is nice and smooth.

Divide your mixture evenly between the 4 cake tins you prepared earlier. Just using the back of your spoon, smooth down the top of the mixture so it’s all nice and even. Bake your cakes for 20 -25 minutes until risen. To test your cakes are baked pop a skewer into the centre of your cake, if it comes out clean then your cakes are ready. 

1.      Leave your cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and pop on a wire rack to cool completely. 

While your cakes are cooling, let’s crack on with the Dark Chocolate Ganache. Pop your Extra Dark Chocolate and double cream in a microwaveable bowl and melt together in the microwave in 30-second bursts. Make sure to stir the mixture well after each burst until it’s all melted together - don’t worry if your ganache starts to separate, simply whisk with an electric hand mixer to bring the ganache back together. 

Cover your ganache with cling film to stop it forming a skin and place in the fridge. Leave it to cool and thicken, this should take about an hour. 

Once your ganache is completely cool, grab your trusty electric hand whisk and whip up the ganache to a smooth and spreadable texture.

Whilst your dark chocolate ganache is cooling, it’s time to make your white chocolate ganache. Now that you’ve mastered the dark chocolate ganache you know the drill! Pop the white chocolate and double cream in a microwaveable bowl and simply follow steps 5-7 to make your white chocolate ganache.

Let’s stack this cake! First up you’ll need to level out your sponges - use a serrated knife to slice the domed tops off your cake layers.

Next, take half of the dark chocolate ganache and pop into another bowl. Whisk it up again with the electric mixer to ensure it’s light and fluffy and easy to spread. If your ganache feels a little too firm you can heat it in the microwave for 5 seconds to loosen it up slightly.

Pop your first sponge layer on you cake board or serving plate and spread an even layer of ganache over the top. Then sandwich another sponge layer on top and repeat until all your sponges are stacked up. Spread a thin layer of ganache over the top and sides of the cake, smoothing with a palette knife or scraper to create a smooth layer called a crumb coat. Applying a crumb coat seals in any pesky stray crumbs before you come to add the final layer of ganache, so it looks smooth and glossy.

Pop your cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill and let the crumb coat set. 

Whilst your cake is chilling, it’s time to make your chocolate sail. Break the Chocolate into pieces and pop in a microwavable bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave; heat in 30 second bursts stirring between bursts until the chocolate is smooth and melted. 

Pour the melted chocolate onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and smooth with a palette knife. Then using pegs or paperclips, scrunch together each corner of the greaseproof paper and secure in place to crinkle the edges of your chocolate and create a 3D sail shape. All sails are different so scrunch up your paper however you fancy, then just pop in the fridge to set. You can create small sails for your cake by using smaller pieces of greaseproof and less chocolate.

Next up is the chocolate bubble wrap. This impressive chocolate garnish is actually super simple to make – using just melted chocolate and a sheet of bubble wrap! Lay a sheet of bubble wrap on a baking tray, then melt the White Chocolate following step 13. 

Once melted, pour the white chocolate over the bubblewrap and smooth out using a palette knife. Place in the fridge to set. Easy, right?!

Once your cake has chilled, it’s time to cover your cake in that glossy ganache! First up, to make the milk chocolate ganache we’ll need the dark and white chocolate ganache’s you made earlier. Pop 1/3 of the dark chocolate ganache in a bowl and add 1/3 white chocolate ganache and whisk together to create a smooth and fluffy milk chocolate ganache. If you want to make your ganache lighter you can keep adding white chocolate ganache until you’re happy with the colour.

Now to create the ombre effect! Pipe the remaining dark chocolate ganache around the bottom third of the cake, pipe the milk chocolate ganache around the middle third of the cake and finally pipe the white chocolate ganache around the top third and top of the cake. Then grab a scraper and smooth the top and sides of the cake to create the wonderful triple chocolate ombre ganache effect! Pop the cake back in the fridge to let the ganache set.

Whilst the cake is chilling, it’s time to make the chocolate drip. Pop the chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt in the microwave to create a smooth and glossy chocolatey mixture. 

Place the chocolate drip in a piping bag cut of the end to create a small hole. Grab your cake from the fridge and drip the melted chocolate over the top of the cake all the way to the edges, so it runs down the side of the cake forming a gloriously glossy drip effect all the way round.

Time for the final touches! Gently peel the chocolate sails off the greaseproof paper. Now for the sparkly bit, spray the sails with gold shimmer spray and pop them on the top of your cake. 

Gently peel the bubblewrap off the white chocolate and using a sharp knife cut the bubblewrap chocolate into shards, as big or small as you like, spray with a little Silver Shimmer Spray for some extra sparkle. Place the bubblewrap shards into the top of the cake and around the sides. 

And it’s ready! Welcome to chocolate heaven. Once you’ve taken plenty of pictures of your jaw-dropping Ultimate Triple Chocolate Ganache Cake, serve up a slice and enjoy!