I just had to post this because I was delighted with the
way it turned out. I wanted to make a really fun birthday cake for my
3-year-old nephews, and I had the idea of creating a construction cake, with
diggers, trucks and cement mixers all helping to build it – but I had a snag, because
I needed to be able to transport it easily (on the train!) down to Devon where
they live. So I came up with a cunning plan – I made some scrumptious
chocolatey brownies, and then used them (with lashings of chocolate and
sweeties) to build the cake. What that means is that this is a really
impressive-looking cake that’s actually not that difficult to make (but shh,
don’t tell Ozzy and Jake).
Ingredients
For the brownies:
200g salted butter
100g margarine
200g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate
5 large eggs
450g granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp salt
To decorate:
Maltesers
Kitkats
Flake
A selection of trucks
Makes 12
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Weigh out the butter and the
margarine (you can use all butter, by the way, but I don’t think margarine
affects the taste and it does make it cheaper) into a microwaveable bowl and
add the chocolate, broken up into pieces. Microwave in 30 second blasts,
stirring well in between, until you have a thick, chocolatey mixture with no
lumps.
Next, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until
you have a nice fluffy pale-yellow mixture, and then pour in the chocolate and
whisk again until well-combined. Carefully fold in the flour and the salt.
 |
The top should break up a bit as you
cut it - don't worry, this will add to the
final effect! |
Prepare a brownie tin by lining with greaseproof paper,
and then pour in the mixture, making sure it’s evenly spread into the corners
(it should be gooey enough to spread itself out fairly well). Pop in the oven
and bake for an hour, until there’s a really nice crust on the top.
Allow it to cool in the tin for about half an hour, and
then cut into chunky squares, and leave to cool for a bit longer. The inside
should still be a bit gooey – as it cools, it will become deliciously thick and
fudgy.
When it comes to building the cake, you can of course do
it any way you like, but if you’re apprehensive, then you can follow my method,
which I think looked pretty darn good. Arrange six or so brownies in a
rectangle and pile the rest around two sides to create an uneven wall (you don’t
really want it to look too tidy). Keep one brownie back
and crumble into a
couple of large pieces, for rubble – put the bulldozer here, if you have one.
Sprinkle with the flake, for gravel (if you have a tipper truck or something
similar, this is good for the chocolate gravel) and then arrange the maltesers
around the edges, for boulders. Kitkats make good chocolate girders, but since
the trucks are still preparing the ground (as it were), these should be stacked
at the side. Sprinkle few crumbs around (again, this looks much better if it’s
a bit untidy) and top the walls with candles, if you wish. Tip: I served this
on a tray, because it’s easy to carry and none of the trucks can roll off the
edge!
