Another one of my backlog cakes – I have loads of them and I’ll be posting them little by little.
My niece Martina loves a series called “Riverdale”, so this time she wanted a cake from her favourite show – and her wish is my command. I hope you like it.
Extreme chocolate sponge cake: 550 g sugar 330 g flour 97 g cocoa powder 3 teaspoons baking soda 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 pinch of salt 3 eggs 355 ml milk 180 ml sunflower oil 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 360 ml boiling water
Wild strawberry buttercream: 200 g butter, at room temperature 200 g icing sugar 3 tablespoons wild strawberry paste
Chocolate ganache: 200 g Nestlé dessert chocolate 100 ml whipping cream
Decoration: 600 g sky-blue fondant Fondant in assorted colours Edible print
Making the sponge cake: 1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C, top and bottom heat. 2. Grease the pan with butter or release spray. 3. Sift and mix the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 4. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, and mix. 5. Once everything is well combined, add the boiling water (the batter will be quite runny – that’s normal). 6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Don’t take it out of the pan until it has cooled.
Making the wild strawberry buttercream: 1. Put the butter and sifted icing sugar in a bowl and start beating. 2. When it’s creamy, add the wild strawberry paste and mix well until fully combined.
Making the ganache: 1. Chop the chocolate very finely and put it in a bowl. 2. Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to boil, then pour it over the chocolate. Leave it for 3 minutes and stir until you have a smooth, glossy cream. Let it rest for 8 hours at room temperature and it’s ready to use.
Assembly: 1. Cut the sponge into layers. 2. Place the first layer on a cake board and spread it with buttercream. Repeat until all the layers are used, cover the whole cake with ganache and let it cool a little. 3. Roll out the fondant and cover the cake. Decorate as you like – in this case with everything from the diner in Riverdale: the Pop’s sign, the leather jacket with the logo and a milkshake, with windows and the diner door around the outside.
