Chocolate Shard Cake

Master this chocolate shard cake with an airy, light sponge and rich buttercream filling. It’s simple enough for an afternoon tea but special enough for a party too.

Impress your dinner party guests with these gorgeous and delicious cake!

This is one of our favorite homemade chocolate cake recipes. With a super moist crumb and fudgy, yet light texture, this chocolate cake recipe will soon be your favorite too.

In addition, you can also try baking fudge using our amazing range of Natural Flavoured Icing Sugars! If you would like to check our full range of Natural Flavoured Icing Sugars and Cocoa Powders click here.

Check more recipes out here.

Ingredients Chocolate Shard Cake

Instructions

For the Chocolate Shards:

1. Line a 30 x 20cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Break 150g of dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until melted. Also, melt 75g of white chocolate as above.

3. Pour the melted dark chocolate into the lined baking tray. Spread the chocolate to the edges of the tray with a palette knife and tap the tray on your surface to smooth. Spoon blobs of the white chocolate randomly over the dark chocolate and using a cocktail stick or wooden skewer create a marble effect by swirling the two chocolates in a figure of eight pattern repeatedly.

4. Leave to cool in a cold place until completely set. Once set break the chocolate into shards by hand.

For the Buttercream:

5. Place the softened butter in a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy.

6. Keep mixing whilst gradually adding Sugar and Crumbs Chocolate Milkshake Natural Flavoured Icing Sugar until all combined. Cover and set to one side.

For the Cake:

7. Preheat the oven to 180ᵒC, 160ᵒC fan, 350ᵒF, Gas 4.

8. Grease and line 4 x 7inch round cake tins. Do not use loose-bottomed tins as the cake batter is very liquid.

9. Put all the ingredients for the cake except the hot water into a bowl and fold carefully until all the ingredients are mixed.

10. Add the boiling water and with a hand whisk mix until you have a smooth consistency. The cake batter will have a very liquid consistency.

11. Pour the mixture into a jug and divide the mixture evenly between the cake tins. Bake for 30 minutes until cooked and a cocktail stick or skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.

For the Modelling Chocolate:

12. Break 150g of dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until melted.

13. Place a Liquid Glucose tube in a jug of hot water. When all chocolate is melted remove from the heat and add 70g warm Liquid Glucose and stir until combined.

14. Transfer the mix into a zip lock bag and flatten to cool completely for 1-2 hours, do not refrigerate.

15. When the Modelling Chocolate is cool, remove it from the bag and roll it out to a thickness of £1 coin.

16. Before Chocolate is fully set chop into shards.

To assemble the cake:

17. Once the cake is cooled, use a small amount of buttercream to stick the base tier of the cake to the cake board. Spread the buttercream on each layer of cake using a palette knife and stack the cake together.

18. Then spread a thin amount of buttercream on the outside of your cake, starting from the base and working up the cake. Chill for around 30 minutes in the fridge until set.

19. Add another layer of buttercream around the whole cake and once covered use a palette knife to get a smooth finish.

For the Chocolate Drip:

20. To make the chocolate drip, break 150g of dark chocolate and 100g butter in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until melted.

21. Leave to cool slightly for around 5 minutes. Pour the melted chocolate onto the top of your cake and using a palette knife, spread it over the top of the cake and push to the edges of the cake so that it starts to drip over the edge.

22. Whilst the chocolate drips are still setting, insert your shards, by making some incisions in the top of the cake (around 3cm depth) using a small sharp knife to help the shards stay upright.

Finishing touches:

Place your assorted decorations of choice around the base.

Chocolate Shard Cake Tutorial