Chocolate Drip Cake

This beautiful three-tiered cake by Sherry Hostler is top of the chocs

Chocolate Drip Cake

You will need

For the cake

•  15cm (6in), 20.5cm (8in), 25.5cm (10in) round sponge cakes, all filled with buttercream and crumb coated

To Decorate

•  3.5kg (7lb 11¾oz) ivory sugarpaste

•  royal icing

•  300g (10½oz) milk chocolate

•  Maltesers, 1 packet

•  Rolos, 1 packet

•  Flake x 4

•  Ferrero Rocher, 1 packet

•  edible gold paint

Equipment

•  3 x round cake cards – 15cm (6in), 20.5cm (8in), 25.5cm (10in)

•  30.5cm (12in) round cake board

•  non-stick rolling pin

•  smoother

•  sharp knife

•  small paint brush

•  plastic piping bag

•  length of ivory ribbon to go around the board

•  dowels x 5

Method

1. Roll out 800g (1lb 12oz) of the ivory sugarpaste on a surface which is lightly dusted with icing sugar to approximately 3mm (1/8in) thickness. Brush your cake drum with a little water and cover it with sugarpaste. Use the smoother to create an even surface. Cut off any excess and allow to dry overnight.
2. Adhere each cake to the corresponding size cake card using a little buttercream.
3. Dust a surface with icing sugar and roll out 1.2kg (2lb 10¼oz) of the ivory sugarpaste to a 3mm (1/8in) thickness so that it is large enough to cover the 25.5cm (10in) cake. Lift the sugarpaste over the cake and smooth down with your hands. Use the smoother to create an even surface and cut off any excess.
4. Dust a surface with icing sugar and roll out 900g (2lb) of the ivory sugarpaste to a 3mm (1/8in) thickness so that it is large enough to cover the 20.5cm (8in) cake. Lift the sugarpaste over the cake and smooth down with your hands. Use the smoother to create an even surface and cut off any excess.
5. Dust a surface with icing sugar and roll out 500g (1lb 1¾oz) of the ivory sugarpaste to a 3mm (1/8in) thickness so that it is large enough to cover the 15cm (6in) cake. Lift the sugarpaste over the cake and smooth down with your hands. Use the smoother to create an even surface and cut off any excess.
6. Leave all the cakes to set for approximately 24 hours.
7. Place the 25.5cm (10in) cake onto the cake board, sticking it down with some royal icing. Dowel the bottom two tiers of the cake and then stack the tiers one by one, starting at the bottom and working your way up. Use royal icing to stick each tier down to the next.
8. Gently heat the chocolate in a bain-marie, stirring slowly with a spoon until melted. Pour the melted chocolate into a plastic piping bag, and when you are ready, snip off the end. Work on one tier at a time, and gently squeeze out the melted chocolate so that it covers the top edge and runs down the sides of the cake.
9. Before the chocolate sets hard, position your chocolates in a small pile on the top tier, and crumble the flakes around the base of each tier. As the melted chocolate sets, it will hold them in place.
10. When the chocolate is set hard, paint some of chocolates with edible gold paint to add a touch of glamour.
11. Add the ribbon around the side of the cake drum to give a nice finish.