Chocolate Shard Cake

Hello again! A while ago, my school held a Charity Week, where we all team up with children from another year group and run a stall. The other year groups come round to buy or take part in whatever we were selling. My group did a cake sale, with all of us bringing in something sweet to sell. Some of the others made cookies and vegan cakes, but I made this chocolate shard cake ↑. To get more out of it, we decided that we would raffle it off instead of selling each slice. We made lots of money! I was so suprised that it came out this good - it looks amazing! This is how you make this super easy cake:

 First, pre-heat the oven to 170°C (if you have a fan oven, a bit less.) Next, grease two circular 18cm tins and line the base.

You need to start off by making a vanilla sponge. I always use this recipe, as it is really easy to make. (If you don't have an electric whisk, you will need to cream the butter and sugar together first, then add in all the other ingredients.) Put 100g chocolate chips into a large bowl, and add in 175g self raising flour. Mix these together, making sure all the chocolate chips are coated in the flour - this stops them sinking to the bottom of the cake while it is baking. Now, put in 1.5tsp baking powder, 175g margarine, 175g caster sugar, 3 large eggs and 2-3 drops vanilla essence. Whisk until thoroughly combined and the mix drops off a spoon easily. If it doesn't, add in 1tsp tapwater and whisk again. Put half of the mix into another bowl, so you have two equal parts. In one, add in 2tbsp cocoa powder and whisk. Put the chocolate mix into one tin and the vanilla mix into the other tin. Bake in the oven for 30 mins.

Once they are cool, slice each cake in half. Check that the top of each cake is level - if not, slice a bit off (I ate those bits!). Make up some buttercream by mixing together 75g unsalted butter and 175g icing sugar. You may need more, depending on how much icing you like on your cakes. Next, find a plate or cake board that you are going to serve the cake on. Put a tiny bit of icing onto the middle of this, then place one of the cakes on top (this stops it from slipping around on the plate). Spread some buttercream over, then put the opposite colour cake on top - so if you started with vanilla, put a chocolate one on top. Repeat this until all four cakes are stacked on top of each other, in a stripy pattern and sandwiched with buttercream.

Cover the cake in a thin layer of buttercream (this is called a crumb coat), then chill in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Take it out and cover with another layer of buttercream. Now cover the cake with white fondant icing (I used ready rolled), smooth it out and trim off the extra bits before putting it back in the fridge. It's easier than it sounds - just place the fondant icing carefully on top of the cake and smooth down the sides with your hands, maing sure there are no creases.

Meanwhile, melt 100g dark chocolate. Pour it onto a baking tray lined with greasproof paper and sprinkle over any kind of sprinkles you like. As you can see I have used rainbow ones. Now do the same again, but with 100g milk chocolate. Let them both set in the fridge.While they are setting, melt some MORE chocolate - 150g dark chocolate this time. Once it has melted, put in 1tsp sunflower oil and mix. Place it in a piping bag and gently pipe along the edge of the cake, so it drips down the side. It should set as it runs down, but if it is too runny, leave it to set for a little in the bag before trying again. If it is too thick, warm it in your hands.

Once the chocolate has dripped all round the cake, snip a bigger hole in the piping bag and let it all come out. Spread it over the top of the cake - this may make it dribble over the sides more, but this is fine. Set the cake in the fridge for 5 minutes, then if the choclate with sprinkles have set, snap it up into biggish pieces and carefully stick them into the cake. Chill it in the fridge until you serve it.

When everyone was coming around the stalls, they would stop at most of them - including ours. They all said ''Did YOU make that?!'' and then bought a raffle ticket. The person who won the cake was delighted and they said it tasted great!