30th Birthday Chocolate Drip Cake #BakeoftheWeek

My youngest sister was 30 last week. Of course, we can't let a celebration go ahead without a cake so into the kitchen I went. Rachel is really easy going with her cake choices so I knew I could have a play at something a little different. She still has tons of her wedding cake left over so I decided to have a bash at a drip cake - She wasn't having a formal party so an informal cake would be fine.

The cake itself is 4 tiers of vanilla sponge filled with raspberry jam and my American Vanilla Frosting. I made a double batch of the frosting and coloured the rest in pink for the outside. And then ... I made the ganache. Be prepared, you will get covered in chocolate - I was finding it everywhere for hours after.

150g Dark Good Quality Chocolate (I used 80% cocoa)
100g Butter (Cut into small/tiny cubes)

I cannot find where I originally got these measurements from or I would credit. I'm thinking that perhaps I have just come up with the measurements as the years have gone on though as this is using a full bar of chocolate.

I melted the chocolate in a glass bowl over a small pan of simmering boiling water. (As usual, do not allow the base of the chocolate bowl to touch the water).
As soon as the chocolate is melted (keep stirring continuously so it does not catch) remove from the heat.
Stir in the butter until fully melted and keep stirring.
I allow the chocolate to cool for about 1-2 minutes but not so much that it starts to set - I dip the back of a metal spoon in to see how long it takes for the chocolate to drip down. You want it quite runny but not so much that it will run all the way down the cake. You can always add more on top but its hard to remove any drips of chocolate that run away.

I added a tablespoon of chocolate to the top of the cake at a time and gently persuaded it over the edge so it started to drip down. Go all the way around and keep adding until the top is fully covered and you have enough drips.

There was just enough chocolate for me to cover the base of the cake and also cover the 2 donuts in the ganache too (I know I could have bought chocolate donuts but I wanted them the same chocolate covering as the cake)

I attached the donuts with a spoonful of chocolate ganache and also stuck on Ferrero Rocher, Mint chocolate sticks, fudge pieces and chocolate shards.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished cake but there was also a sparkly pink 30 on the board and I used a leopard print ribbon to complete the cake.

As you will see from the picture below, Tara could barely keep her hands off the cake!