Chocolate Box Birthday Cake

I asked my boyfriend what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday and he said chocolate. So I decided to go one better and make him a box of chocolates, in the form of cake! I had seen a few of these on the internet, including a very pretty one in a heart-shaped box for Valentine's day, but thought that a square box would look the most authentic.

You can use any chocolate cake recipe and make a square cake. I doubled the quantity and made two cakes that I could sandwich together with chocolate ganache.

I used some ready-to-roll fondant from Renshaw in teddy bear brown. Place the cake on a cake board and cut a strip of fondant to go around the base of the cake. It needs to be at least an inch wide or more if you prefer.

Next cover the top of the cake with a flat piece of fondant, then make a piece for each side. I mixed the fondant with a little CMC to make it stiffer; it helps if you leave it for about ten minutes after you've cut the piece out to harden slightly. The side pieces need to sit within the base so the base still sticks out a little, and they need to be about an inch higher than the top of the cake. Stick the pieces on with a little chocolate ganache.

Continue until all sides are complete.

You will need a selection of chocolates to go on top of the cake which you can either buy or make. I decided to make them myself, as I was sent these moulds to review by the Dot Com Gift Shop.

I have explained in a previous post how I made these chocolates which are like Rolos, and taste gorgeous.

I also explained in an earlier post how I made these heart-shaped cake balls.

My favourites from any box of chocolates when I was younger was always the orange cream slice, so I wanted to make some of these as well. I melted some Terry's chocolate orange in the microwave.

I had this orange segment mould that I picked up in the sale from Lakeland a while ago.

I decided to make a truffle centre for the chocolates, so I made a chocolate ganache from melted chocolate and double cream and a dash of Cointreau.

To make the chocolates, brush some melted chocolate - using either a silicon pastry brush or the back of a teaspoon - into the mould, leaving enough space in the middle to fill. Put in the fridge until set. Then add the filling - the Cointreau ganache - and melt some more chocolate. Allow the melted chocolate to cool a little then pour into the moulds to fill them. Refrigerate until required.

These have a wonderfully soft filling when you bite into them and taste delicious.

Finally I made some cake balls, exactly the same as cake pops without the sticks, by mixing crumbled cake trimmings from another cake I'd made the day before, with some buttercream. Roll into balls and dip into melted white chocolate and leave to set.

 I added a few Maltesers from a packet as well to fill in the gaps. Here's my collection of chocolates.

Arrange them all on top of the cake. The sides of the cake that you have made higher than the cake really do look like the edges of a box.

As a finishing touch I tied a large gold bow around the box. My boyfriend was really pleased when I presented this to him and it went down very well when his family came over; everyone had a slice of cake and a few of the chocolates from the top. My favourites were the 'Rolos' and orange slices. This cake does take a bit of effort and time but it really is worth it!
 

Homemade Rolo Chocolates

The Dot Com Gift Shop sent me these two chocolate moulds to review. If you haven't been to their website before, I urge you to check it out. The Dot Com Gift shop has a range of items for the home and garden ranging from cake stands and chocolate moulds to lunch boxes to candles and cushions. I've bought several things from the site before both for myself and as gifts, and last summer was invited to preview their Christmas range.

It took me a little while to get around to using the moulds as I had a particular project in mind, which you will hear more about later. I found the moulds so easy to use and I love the way they are packaged (above) - I think these would make a really nice gift.

I decided to use the round moulds to make homemade Rolos. I melted some chocolate and poured a little into each mould so it just covered the bottom, and used the back of a spoon to spread it around the sides. Don't make the layer on the bottom too thin as you want it to hold, but you need to leave yourself plenty of space inside the mould for the filling. Place the mould in the fridge for the chocolate to set.

I used a tin of Carnation Caramel for the filling; it is thick and not too runny and perfect for making these. You need about half a teaspoon or even a little less in each mould.

Melt some more chocolate and allow it to cool so it is still runny but not too hot. Pour into the chocolate moulds until they are filled and place again in the fridge to set.

When set, turn out of the mould. The mould is silicon so you can easily bend it to push the chocolates out.

When you bite into one, the caramel inside is still runny. These are perfect and remind me a lot of Rolo chocolates. They would make a lovely gift; I used them on top of a cake!