Recipe: The Ultimate Chocolate Christmas Cake

It just wouldn't be Christmas without a festive baking post would it? This year, I've upped my game a created the ultimate chocolate Christmas cake, although last year red bow cupcakes were pretty good! The inspiration behind this post? Well a few weeks ago I attended a Christmas cake masterclass with Dr. Oetker and the amazing Juliet Sear as part of their new We Bake community, with is basically a social media/forum for those of us who love to bake, which is basically everyone. Plus they're running a competition with me to win a Dr. Oetker product hamper, which is FULL of amazing stuff so all you need to do is sign up and just post the link to your first We Bake post in the comments below! If you need some inspiration an example of a We Bake post is one like this. I really hope you enter, it's super easy and don't forget to share your post in the comments below, you have until the 3rd January 2017. Now time for the moment we've all been waiting for, the ultimate chocolate Christmas cake recipe...

To make the chocolate cake you'll need:

335g plain flour

525g soft brown sugar

125g cocoa poweder

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 eggs

185ml vegetable oil or coconut oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

375ml whole milk

2tsp instant espresso coffee

375ml boiling water

For the chocolate ganache covering/filling you'll need:

600g cooks milk chocolate

300ml double cream

For the drip topping you'll need:

150g of any 'cooks' chocolate bar - I used white chocolate

The chocolate cake recipe:

1. Put the cream in a saucepan and heat gently over a low heat until the cream is bubbling, keep stirring whilst the cream is heating.
2. Once bubbly and hot remove the cream from the heat and break the milk chocolate into squares. Add the chocolate into the cream and story until melted.
3. Chill in the fridge for two hours until set and thickened. (If you don't want to make a ganache you can always make a chocolate buttercream!)
4. Preheat the oven to 175c or gas mark 4. Grease and line 4x7 inch round cake tins.
5. Put all of the ingredients for the cake except the hot water into a bowl and fold carefully until all of the ingredients are mixed.
6. Add the the boiling water and with a hand whisk, mix until you have a smooth consistency.
7. The cake batter will have a very runny consistency. So pour the mixture into a jug and divide evenly between the cake tins.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Then leave to cool.
9. Once the cake has cooled use a small amount of the ganache (or buttercream) to stick to the base tier of the cake to the cake board.
10. Spread the ganache on each layer of the cake using a palette knife and the cake together. Then spread a think amount of ganache on the outside of your cake, starting from the base and working up the cake.
11. Chill for around 30 mins in the fridge to let it set. Then add another layer around the whole cake.
12. Melt your chocolate for the drip, you can either do this in a microwave or using a bain-marie. Then leave to cool slightly for around 5 minutes.
13. Pour the melted chocolate on top of your cake and using a palette knife spread over the top of  the cake and push to the edges so it started to drip down your cake.
14. Now it's time to decorate. If you're using making chocolate shards like I did add these now! You can decorate with anything you like, chocolate hearts or stars, sweets, sprinkles, berries, edible glitter, macarons, or even biscuits! I used the Dr.Oetker gold shimmer spray on my berries and I thought it added such a festive effect.
15. Finally, share with friends and family on Christmas day.