Recipe: Rahul’s Rock Garden Cake

• Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour, 50 mins

Serves: 20

Category: Cakes

Ingredients

• 425g Betty Crocker Tempting Chocolate Cake Mix (you will need 2 boxes)
• 3 eggs
• 118ml cooking oil
• 800g Betty Crocker Vanilla Buttercream Style Icing (2 pots)
• Dr Oetker Food Colour - green and red
• 100g caster sugar
• 75g dark chocolate (chopped)

Optional

• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 tsp lemon extract

Method

1. Make sure your oven is preheated to 180° celsius or Gas Mark 4.

2. Make your chocolate cake following the instructions on the pack, using the mixing bowl and whisk to incorporate the eggs and oil.

3. Divide the cake mix into the four baking tins so that it reaches the same level in each.

4. Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes.

5. Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack.

6. If you’ve decided to use the orange and lemon flavourings, mix them into the butter cream icing. 

7. Heat two tablespoons of water with the caster sugar in the small saucepan until dissolved and golden. Turn up the heat and add the chocolate, which will immediately clump up. This is “chocolate soil” for your garden! Leave it to cool on the lined plate.

8. Sandwich one big cake on top of the other and one small cake on top of the other using buttercream.

9. Use buttercream again to secure the smaller stack of cakes on top of the larger stack.

10. Ice the whole thing with your buttercream icing, saving six tablespoons’ worth.

11. Divide the remaining buttercream icing in to the two small bowls. Add two small drops of green colouring to one and two of red to the other.

12. Spoon the coloured icing separately in to the two piping bags. 

13. Pipe pretty flowers and leaves onto the sides and top of your cake, then pile up chocolate soil wherever looks right.

 The full recipe can also be found over at The Great British Bake Off.