M&M and Kit Kat Chocolate Cake

It was my boyfriend’s birthday in January (yes, I’m THAT behind with my posts) and I was looking for a cake recipe that would look impressive, but require minimal effort.

Unlike my mother, I’m not a cake decorating genius, so I prefer to concentrate on the flavour of the cakes and stick to simple decorations.

This cake fits the bill perfectly as it literally just involves making a chocolate sponge, sticking kit kats around the side and topping with M&Ms. What could be more easy?

It also looks suitably impressive enough to pass as a birthday cake, so even better.

I used a recipe found here, (who in turn got the cake recipe from Primrose Bakery) but obviously swapped the smarties for a mix of crispy, regular and peanut m&ms (because Kieran LOVES M&Ms)

Ingredients:

230g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

170g unsalted butter, at room temperature

350g light soft brown sugar

3 large eggs, free range or organic, separated

370g plain flour, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

500ml semi skimmed milk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees c.

Break the choc into pieces and melt in 30 second intervals in a glass bowl in the microwave. Set bowl aside to cool.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 3-5 minutes until the mix is pale and smooth.

Put the egg yolks in a separate bowl and beat them for several minutes, slowly add the egg yolks to the creamed butter and sugar and beat well.

Add the cooled chocolate to this mixture and beat well again.

Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a jug. Add one third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well. Pour in one third of the milk and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk have been added.

In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to form. Carefully fold the egg whites into the main batter using a metal spoon (Do not beat or you will take the air out of the mixture).

Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and bake for about 30 minutes.

Insert a skewer in the centre of one of the cakes, it should come out clean if cooked. Leave to cool.

To Decorate:

Chocolate buttercream frosting:

175g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

225g unsalted butter, at room temp

1 tablespoon semi-skimmed milk, at room temp

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250g icing sugar, sifted

Melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals in a glass bowl in the microwave until smooth. Leave to cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, milk, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth – this can take several minutes with an electric hand mixer.

Add the melted chocolate and beat again until thick and creamy. If it looks too runny to use, simply keep beating to thicken.

To Assemble:

1 batch of Chocolate frosting

3 165g pouches of M& Ms – one plain, one peanut & one crispy

20 two-finger Kit Kats

Try to assemble with cold hands in a cold room, otherwise you will put finger prints on the kit kats!

At this point you want to make sure that the two cakes on top of each other are not the same height/ taller than a kit kat stood on its end. If so, you need to trim the cakes down, otherwise you won’t have any room to empty the M&Ms at the end.

Sandwich the cakes together with a generous layer of chocolate frosting.

Then decorate all around the sides of the cake with the same frosting.

Stick the kit kats to the side of the cake with the frosting.

Once you have a completed edge, fill the middle of your cake with M&Ms!