Making chocolate cake collars

Ok, when I was writing my last blog post I soon came to realise that it had been so long since I last posted that I had an awful lot of stuff to tell people about. And that it would be better to split it over a few posts rather than cram it into one!

So here is one of them: making chocolate collars for cakes. I was given the task of creating a cake for a rather large joint birthday celebration, with minimal instructions beyond "make it a big chocolate sponge". So I hired a 12" round cake tin, and got thinking... I saw a picture of a similar cake in a decorating book I was given a few years ago (The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating), and really really liked it. So I thought I would have a play. For anyone who fancies a go, here is what I did, along with tips I picked up on the way.

How to make a chocolate collar for a cake

Equipment/Ingredients
A cake
Dark chocolate - preferably with at least 70% cocoa solids
White chocolate, or 1 pack of white chocolate buttons
Buttercream
String (how long?!)
Ruler
Pencil
Greaseproof paper (or shiny contact, or clear plastic)
Optional: if it's a hot day, a fan and hair dryer

Preparation

1. Either sandwich two sponge cakes with filling of your choice, or cut one large cake in half horizontally, fill, then stick back together.
2. Cover your filled cake all over - sides and top - with a thin layer of buttercream icing (flavour is up to you) Try and use the layer of buttercream to create a nice flat and even surface for the chocolate to go on.
3. If it's a hot day, put the buttercream-covered-cake into the fridge to harden slightly.
   

Chocolate Collar

1. Use a piece of string to measure all the way round the cake (the circumference). Mark the string where the ends meet before you take it away from the cake.
2. Measure the piece of string (and if you are a sieve brain like me, write down the measurement)
3. Now measure the height of the cake (and again, write it down)
4. Get either some 'clear plastic', 'shiny contact' (and no, I had never heard of either of these and couldn't get hold of any easily) or just use some handy old greaseproof/baking paper.
5. Use a pencil and ruler to draw out a rectangle on the greaseproof that will fit the height and circumference of the cake - PLUS add about 5mm to the height, and about 15mm (1.5cm) to the length - the extra to the length is so that you don't end up with a gap when you put the collar on the cake. See digression below. Also allow a cm or so on top of that each end so that you can tape the greaseproof down and stop it moving. Cut out the rectangle, and secure to a flat surface with sellotape.
   
6. Get the white chocolate buttons, and moisten the flat side very slightly with water. Press down onto the greaseproof at artistic intervals. Don't press too hard, they will both squash and slip. Alternatively, melt some white chocolate and use a piping bag to make little round spots. This is probably the better way to do it, as the spots will stick really well to the greaseproof. Leave to set.
   
7. Melt the dark chocolate gently - either in the microwave on low power, or in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water. Do not let any water touch the chocolate - curdleage *will* occur.
8. Spread the dark chocolate all over the greaseproof paper - carefully. If you aren't nice and gentle, the white spots will move or even come off, to much general cursing.
9. Leave to set. If it is a hot day, spend a long time holding a fan over it. Then spend a long time with a fan in one hand and a hair dryer in the other when you realise that one end is setting faster than the other.
10. Once the chocolate is still a little shiny - ie it won't crack when you bend it, but it won't drip all over the side either - untape the greaseproof and pick it up, and very very carefully wrap it around the cake.
11. If it's a very hot day, put it in the fridge to set.
12. Once set, *carefully* unpeel the greaseproof..... et voila! (or, curses)

Tips

• Practice first
• Make sure it's not going to be the hottest day of the year
• Try and take pictures in the shade - melting time is pretty quick
• It really is worth getting high cocoa content chocolate
• White chocolate seems to melt quicker and not set as easily as dark chocolate...
  

Digression from step 5.... when I got to this bit I just made the length on the greaseproof exactly the same as the piece of string. My husband came in as I was about to place the collar on the cake. And said - most helpfully - "you did allow extra length for the width of the chocolate didnt you?". To which I replied with a blank face.

He works at PMF - working with metal at incredibly high levels of precision. He did explain the reasoning to me, but my brain is so full of other stuff (Whoopie Pies mainly) at the moment it didn't really want to take it in. Officially, to get the chocolate collar exactly the right length for the cake you need to work out the 'mean circumference'. Something to do with the circumference, the thickness, and Pi. All you really need to know is add a decent extra bit so you don't have to a) start from scratch or b) melt an extra bit of chocolate and stick it over the gap.