Chocolate Teacake Cake

Before Easter I was struck down with gastroentiritis and it was an utterly horrendous experience. Crippling stomach pains and the inability to eat anything but dry crackers and ginger nut biscuits for over a week meant I was fantasising about the day I could finally stuff my face with indulgent food again, and I swore I'd treat myself by making a big decadent cake when I was better. Luckily, I recovered in time for the Easter weekend and decided to set myself the challenge of baking something chocolatey that didn't involve Mini Eggs or Creme Eggs. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Mini Eggs and Creme Eggs but I thought it'd be fun to try something outside-the-box. The result was a creation inspired by one of my favourite treats, chocolate teacakes, with their heavenly combination of fluffy marshmallow filling, strawberry jam, biscuit base and a crisp chocolate coating. The flavours and textures transfer really well into cake form and it was a lot of fun to make, especially the mountain of meringue frosting topped with a chocolate shell!

Freezing the marshmallow frosting for five minutes before pouring on the melted chocolate is a great tip I picked up from a recipe for hi-hat cupcakes and it really works! Make sure you don't omit this step or you'll end up with a runny, melty mess. Also, as I mentioned in my Neapolitan Cake post, although beating egg white with icing sugar makes for a deliciously marshmallow-like frosting, it doesn't last well and will begin to shrink after a couple of days. The cake will still be delicious but it won't look as good!

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

• 225g self-raising flour
• 225g caster/granulated sugar
• 225g butter/margarine
• 4 eggs
• 2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting/filling/topping:

• 2 egg whites
• 4 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp golden syrup
• 0.5 tsp cream of tartar (optional but helps to stabilise the mixture)
• 5 tbsp (approx.) strawberry jam
• 100g milk chocolate
• 3-4 milk chocolate or plain digestive biscuits

METHOD

For the cake:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C and and line two round baking tins with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the butter/margarine and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale then whisk in the eggs.
3. Fold in the flour, cocoa powder and vanilla extract until a batter of a soft dropping consistency has formed.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins then pop in the oven and bake for around 15-20 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the sponges comes out clean.
5. When baked, leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack before turning them out of the tins. At this stage the sponges can be frozen for decorating at a later date if you wish.

For the frosting/filling/topping:

1. Spread the strawberry jam generously across the top of one of the cooled sponges.
2. Separate the egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk with the vanilla extract, golden syrup and cream of tartar, while adding the icing sugar a few teaspoons at a time, until stiff peaks form - you should ideally do this for a minimum of 7-10 minutes.
3. Spread about a third of the frosting on top of the jam-covered sponge using a palette knife then sandwich the other sponge on top. 
4. Spread the rest of the frosting on top of the cake to form a mountain - pile it up as high as possible - then place in the freezer for about 5 minutes until it's fairly firm.
5. While the cake is in the freezer, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt over a pan of hot water or in the microwave in blasts of 30 seconds until smooth.
6. Remove the cake from the freezer and immediately pour the melted chocolate over the top of the frosting mountain so that it drizzles down the sides. 
7. Crush the digestive biscuits into chunks by hand and place on top of the chocolate covering then leave to set before serving.