Chocolate Candy Cake

This is a choc-a-holic's dream cake. It's a 2 layer chocolate sour cream cake covered with chocolate ganache with a layer of chocolate ganache in the middle. It is surrounded by Kit Kat's and topped with Maltesers and peanut M&M's. The best part is that it is designed to look as if the chocolates are pouring down on to the cake. The inspiration was actually a challenge by my friend who saw it on the internet and challenged me to make a similar cake. It was a work colleague's leaving do and it's getting close to Halloween so I decided to give it a go. 

I had fun constructing this cake even though it was a little frustrating at times. I used drinking straws to suspend the chocolate wrappers but you can also use long lollipop sticks. I used chocolate ganache as my 'glue' to stick the sweets to the straw and to hold the wrappers in place. The malteser half was very easy to build in comparison to the peanut M&M's. I think they are too heavy and too awkwardly shaped. I'll try regular M&M's next time or Mint Aero's. 

Everyone was really impressed with the cake, myself included! It was tricky to slice as the maltesers and M&M's scattered everywhere so make sure you are prepared. The cake was rich and chocolatey and the chocolate ganache was absolutely divine. 

I'm entering this to We Should Cocoa hosted by Hannah from Honey & Dough on behalf of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog. The theme this month is Halloween and this would be perfect for a Halloween party. It's not scary but it's definitely very chocolatey and perfect for a celebration. 

For a similar reason, I am also entering it to Let's Cook for Halloween hosted by Nayna from Simply Food.

It's also going to Bake of the Week hosted by Helen from Casa Castello. 

Finally to Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy from Supergolden Bakes.

 I ended up using 32 Kit Kat fingers, 500g peanut M&M's, 360g Maltesers and 660g of chocolate for this recipe! 

 cook chocolate, butter and cocoa powder with some water

 whisk chocolate mixture into the flour mixture

 add in the eggs

 whisk in the sour cream

 sandwich and cover with chocolate ganache - don't worry if it's messy, it will all be covered

 arrange the Kit Kat fingers around the outside leaving a gap in the front 

 place 2 drinking straws and adjust the height if needed (I had to push my straws in as it would not fit into my cake box otherwise) 

 Building up the cake 

 almost there...

 Looking good

It survived overnight! 

For the cake 

250g plain four

45g cocoa powder
60g dark chocolate pieces
225g butter
1 cup water
300g sugar
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate ganache

300mls double cream

600g dark chocolate 

For the decorations

32 Kit Kat fingers

360g Maltesers

500g Peanut M&M's

2 drinking straws

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Grease and line 2 sandwich tins. 
• Place the butter, cocoa powder, chocolate and water to cook over a medium heat.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda and sugar together.
• Carefully add half the melted chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk. 
• Add the eggs one at a time and continue whisking. 
• Then add the sour cream and vanilla extract.
• Divide the batter between the two cake tins (I weigh mine to make sure that it's even) and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until cooked and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool completely before decorating. 
• Make the chocolate ganache by heating the double cream in a small pot.
• Once it's almost boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate.
• Continue stirring until the chocolate has melted.
• Whisk the mixture until smooth and glossy. 
• Allow it to set at room temperature before using. If it starts getting solid then just warm it in the microwave to the desired consistency.
• Decorate the cake as shown above.