Black Gloss Mud Cake

Pre-heat the oven to 160C (fan forced), and grease and line three 15cm cake tins with baking paper. For a shorter cake, grease and line two 20cm cake tins with baking paper.

Place butter, sugar and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well and repeat until all ingredients have melted and are well incorporated. Allow to cool. Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a separate jug, mix together eggs and sour cream then combine with the cooled chocolate mixture. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients mixing until well combined. Add black food colour and mix well until colour is evenly mixed through the batter.

Divide batter evenly between tins and bake for 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the number of tins used, turning half way. Cakes are done when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with a few damp crumbs stuck to it. Allow to cool completely in tins.

Cream butter until light in colour and creamy. Slow mixer to lowest setting and add icing sugar a few tablespoons at a time. Once all the icing sugar is added, increase speed and allow icing and butter to beat together until light and fluffy. Add Vanilla Extract and cream, increase speed again, and beat until the mixture is luscious, creamy and easy to spread. Add Red Food Colour Gel one drop at a time until desired pink colour is achieved.

Combine icing sugar, cocoa and butter in stand mixer. Mix on low with paddle attachment until butter is incorporated into the icing sugar and cocoa. Once butter is incorporated, start adding chilled cream cheese to mixture. When all cream cheese has been added, increase speed and beat until mixture is thick and creamy. Slow speed and add Black Food Colour Gel, Natural Vanilla Extract and water, mixing until icing is smooth and glossy. If it’s too thick, add more water a little at a time until icing is easy to pipe and holds its shape.

Secure bottom layer of cake to cake stand with a small amount of pink icing. Top cake with a generous amount of pink icing. Add second layer of cake, and if creating three layers, top with more icing. Add third layer of cake and place whole cake in fridge for fifteen minutes to allow icing to firm up.

Remove cake from fridge and use an offset spatula to cover cake with glossy black icing. Start at the top of the cake and work your way down the sides. It’s easiest to add too much icing to the cake at first, then remove excess as you smooth out the sides. Put excess icing in a piping bag with a French star tip and pipe stars around the top edge of cake.

In a small bowl, mix together Sugar Strands, Sugar Stars & Hundreds & Thousands. Gently press sprinkles onto the sides of cake, then spread the rest across the top. Serve, and enjoy!