Sweet sixteen cake – a giant chocolate and vanilla cupcake

My friend Niaz asked me to make a cake for his daughter's sixteenth birthday today. I decided to make a 'sweet sixteen' cake, decorated with a mixture of pastel-coloured sweets - dolly mixtures, mini marshmallows, mini Smarties and edible silver balls.  Her favourite flavours are chocolate and vanilla, but to make it a bit more special I decided to use a giant cupcake mould (chocolate cake on the bottom and vanilla on the top). The bottom part I coated in melted dark chocolate, and topped it with a chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Happy birthday Haleeka!

It was the first time I'd used the mould, so I wasn't sure how much cake batter I'd need - I made an 8 egg sponge, but it was more than I needed so I used the extra batter to make 15 little cupcakes to go with the giant one. The recipe here is for a six egg batter, as I think that's all you'd need for the giant cupcake.

Ingredients

12 oz butter

12 oz caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

12 oz self-raising flour

6 eggs

1 ½ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp cocoa powder

For the chocolate cream cheese frosting

8 oz cream cheese

4 oz butter

12 oz icing sugar

4 tbsp cocoa powder

For the filling and chocolate coating

8 oz dark chocolate

3 tbsp strawberry jam

To decorate

Dolly mixtures

Mini marshmallows

Edible silver balls

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and grease the tin thoroughly, making sure you coat all the nooks and crannies well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy.
3. Measure out the flour and set aside.
4. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, followed by a large spoonful of flour between each egg.  Beat well after each addition.
5. Sift in the remaining flour and baking powder, and beat to combine smoothly.
6. Pour half the mixture into the top mould, filling it to about 2cm short of the rim.
7. Sift the cocoa powder into the remaining cake batter and beat well.
8. Pour the cocoa batter into the base mould, again filling it to about 2cm short of the rim.
9. Bake in the oven for 1hr 10 mins or until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the base cake comes out clean.
10. Cool for 25 minutes in the tins, then turn them out onto a cooling rack. If necessary, give the upturned tins a tap with a rolling pin to release the cakes.
11. Allow the cakes to cool fully on the wire rack completely before slicing the domes tops to make a nice flat surface.
12. Meanwhile, make the icing: beat the butter until light and creamy, then add the cream cheese and beat until well combined. Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
13. Chop the chocolate into chunks and place in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring until melted. Once the bottom of the cake is completely cool, use a pastry brush to coat it with melted chocolate and refrigerate to set.
14. Once the chocolate has set, remove the base cake from the fridge and turn onto a cake stand. 
15. Warm the jam in a small saucepan and spoon it onto the top of the base cake. Place the other cake on top.
16. Use a palette knife to spread the cream cheese frosting onto the top part of the cake, and decorate with dolly mixtures and other sweets.