Chocolatey Chocolate Biscuit Cake

I had so much fun making this recently for my nephew's Christening and its so easy to make!!

Ingredients for Cake (Taking from ilovecooking.ie):

• 225g unsalted butter

• 200g good quality dark chocolate

• 200g good quality milk chocolate

• 200ml condensed milk

• 150g rich tea biscuits

• 100g digestive biscuits

• 120g Maltesers

• 4x (32g) Crunchie bars, roughly broken

Method:

1. Line a 2lb loaf tin with a double layer of clingfilm, and for a smooth finish, parchment paper. Set aside. Combine the butter with both of the chocolates and condense milk in a medium sized heat proof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water and leave to melt. Stir occasionally then remove from heat once completely smooth. Leave to cool, about 10 minutes.

2. Break biscuits into medium and small pieces into a large bowl.

3. Pour about 3/4 of the chocolate mixture over the broken biscuits, mix until pieces are coated with the mixture. Add the Maltesers and Crunchie pieces and mix to distribute.

4. Pour half of the remaining chocolate into the bottom of the prepared tin and spread it out evenly with a spatula, making sure to get the mixture into the corners.

5. Tip about half of biscuit mixture into the tin and spread out evenly, pressing the surface down firmly with a spatula or large metal spoon to compress the mixture and remove any air pockets. Spoon in the remaining biscuit mixture and repeat. Smooth and flatten out the top. Pour the remaining chocolate mixture over the top and smooth with a spatula.

6. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.

7. Once set, remove from tin and peel away clingfilm and parchment paper. Cut into slices and enjoy.

8. Will keep for up to 3 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Ganache (thanks to sallysbakingaddiction.com):

• two 4-ounce quality semi-sweet chocolate bars (113g each), finely chopped (see note about using white chocolate)*

• 1 cup (8 ounces; 240ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream

Method:

1. Place chopped chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to gently simmer. (Do not let it come to a rapid boil– that’s too hot!) Pour over chocolate, then let it sit for 2-3 minutes to gently soften the chocolate.

2. With a metal spoon or small rubber spatula, very slowly stir until completely combined and chocolate has melted. The finer you chopped the chocolate, the quicker it will melt with the cream. If it’s not melting, do not microwave it. See Troubleshooting Chocolate Ganache in blog post above.

3. Ganache can be ready to use as a drizzle or you can let it sit at room temperature to cool and thicken. It will fully cool within 2 hours. Refrigerating speeds this up, but the ganache will not cool evenly. Stir it a few times as it sets in the refrigerator so it remains even and smooth.

4. Once completely cool and thick, the ganache can be piped with a piping tip or scooped with a spoon. You can also beat the cooled thickened ganache with a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until light in color and texture, about 4 minutes on medium-high speed.

5. Cover tightly and store ganache in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Once ganache cools completely, you can cover it tightly and freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator. To rewarm or thin out again, stir constantly over low heat on the stove in either (1) a double boiler or (2) in a heatproof bowl placed over a pot of simmering water. Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the simmering water.

Final Steps:

• Once the ganache has cooled, use spatula or knife to cover the cake with the ganache. You will be using the ganache to stick the decorations.

• Start with the chocolate fingers and place side by side around the side of the cake

• Then start with placing the maltesers around the outside of the top in a circle

• Use the chocolate fingers to divide selections for the remaining sweets. (I ran out of Chocolate fingers so used the Maltesers to seperate it)

• As you can see in the picture above, I done a sections of:

Mint Aero Balls

Chocolate Buttons (New Version)

Minstrels

Smarties

Chocolate M&M's

And Voila, you have a chocolatey chocolate biscuit cake for everyone to enjoy!!