- Serves 10 to 12 - Ready in 3 hours and 30 minutes (includes 2 hours of cooling time) -
*If you use Mikado Sticks then eat this on the same day as you decorate it, or else the sticks will go soggy at the end where the chocolate coating is absent*
You need a particular tin and a particular basin for this recipe to achieve the desired 'campfire' shape - see photo of prepared tins below (with the medium eggs included for scale). I suggest you borrow them from a relative / colleague / neighbour - if you love the cake as much as we do then you'll make it every year in November at which point you'll know it's time to invest in the specific baking equipment of your very own.
Gather together for the cakes...
150g butter, softened -slice it and put it into the warming-up oven for 3 minutes.
200g soft, light brown sugar.
175g plain flour.
2 tsp baking powder.
50g cocoa powder.
3 medium, free-range eggs (beaten).
150g plain yoghurt.
1 tsp vanilla extract (the Taylor & Colledge brand is fairtrade certified / the Dr Oetker brand is alcohol free).
1 – 3 tsp milk (if needed).
Gather together for the topping...
EITHER (if your mascarpone has a 'high' 43%+ fat content)...
6 tbsp (100g) icing sugar, SIEVED.
500g tub full-fat mascarpone, it must have a fat content of at least 43% (Morrisons and Tesco mascarpone works well) or else it will split and go liquid-y when it is mixed with the icing sugar.
OR (if your mascarpone has a 'lower' i.e. under 43% fat content)...
250g mascarpone cheese.
300ml double cream (MUST be double cream as it needs to whip up, DO NOT use Elmlea).
2 tsp vanilla extract.
6 tbsp (100g) icing sugar.
and...
Red and yellow food colouring gels (NOT liquid).
3 boxes of chocolate ‘sticks’ e.g. Mikado sticks (but these go unpleasantly soggy by the next day as they are not fully encased in chocolate), Chocolate Fingers (gluten-free versions are also available) or Matchmakers (but these are flavoured not plain). *To save money / reduce plastic packaging you can get away with 1 large (207g) box of Chocolate Fingers, but the finished cake will look a bit sparse with more 'flames' visible* (see photo below).
To save £ and reduce plastic packaging, you can get away with 200g (1 large pack) of Chocolate Fingers, the 'twigs' will just look be a bit more spaced out (as in the photo above).
Get baking...
1. As in the photo below, grease and bottom-line a small, deep, circular, loose-bottomed metal tin (circa 6 inches diameter and 3 inches deep) like this one from Amazon, and a 12cm-top-diameter / 6cm-base-dameter (circa 300ml volume) ceramic oven-proof pudding basin, like this one from Amazon. Sprinkle them with a little flour too, as an extra way to stop the mixture sticking! If you don’t own the right bakeware then ask around as a baking-keen friend or a neighbour probably does and could lend you what you need - and then you may make a new baking acquaintance along the way...
2. Preheat the oven to 190 C (170 C fan) or Gas 5.
3. Slice the 150g of butter, put the slices into a heatproof (ceramic or metal) medium-sized bowl and put the butter into the heating-up oven for 3 minutes to soften. Set a timer so you don't forget about it!
4. Carefully remove the softened butter from the oven (the bowl will be HOT). Cream the 150g of softened butter and the 200g of brown sugar for up to 1 minute using an electric mixer (or beat with a wooden spoon, which will take up to 2 minutes).
5. Sieve in the 175g of plain flour, the 2 tsp of baking powder and the 50g of cocoa powder - don't stir yet.
6. Add the 3 medium (beaten) eggs, the 150g of plain yoghurt and the 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix gently, at first by hand (so the 'dusty' ingredients don't fly out!) and then mix until well combined (this will take no more than 20 seconds with an electric mixer or up to a minute with a spoon). Don't over-mix or the cakes will be tough.
7. Check if the mixture needs any milk adding to loosen it. The mixture should be at 'dropping consistency' - i.e. the mixture should fall off an upturned spoon within 5 seconds. If it doesn't then add 1 - 3 tsp of milk as needed. This is a good test to see if the mixture is flexible enough to rise well when baking.
8. Half fill the small pudding basin with mixture (this will take approximately 4 heaped tbsp of mixture).
9. Spoon the remaining mixture into the metal cake tin and gently level it.
10. Bake in the oven for 30 - 35 min (small basin cake), the larger cake in the tin will take up to 1 hour in total, but check it after 45 min (and then every 5 minutes)- by inserting a skewer into the centre and seeing if it comes out clean. Don't overbake the cakes or they will be rather dry (but still yummy).
11. Once baked, cool the cakes for at least 10 min in their tin/basin, then cool on a wire rack, under a clean tea towel. (The smaller cake will happily sit in its basin whilst the larger cake finishes baking and then cooling).
12. Allow cakes to cool completely, for AT LEAST TWO HOURS before decorating (or the icing will slide off).
13. Meanwhile, check the fat content of your mascarpone...
13(a). If your mascarpone has a 'high' 43%+ fat content: Into a medium bowl, SIEVE the 6 tbsp of icing sugar (otherwise your filling will have unsightly clumps). Add the 500g mascarpone and stir VERY gently for up to 30 seconds. This simple two-ingredient filling ONLY works if your mascarpone has a very high fat content to stabilise the mixture, a lower than 43% fat content will mean the filling quickly becomes runny and leaks out of the cake.
13(b). If your mascarpone has a lower than 43% fat content, add double cream to stabilise it: In a medium bowl, place the 250g mascarpone, the 300ml of double cream and the 2 tsp of vanilla extract and mix with a handheld whisk for about 30 seconds. Sieve in the 6 tbsp of icing sugar and stir until fully mixed, this will take about 1 minute. It will be very runny at this stage - fear not. Then use an electric whisk for 2 - 5 minutes, until firm peaks form.
14. Set aside the mascarpone-mixture topping in the fridge (for at least 30 minutes so it is well chilled) and until the cakes are FULLY cooled.
15. Put the cooled dome cake on top of the cooled circular cake (hold the balanced cakes in place with one of the chocolate sticks -held vertically - pushed partly into each cake, like a dowel).
16. Evenly divide the chilled mascarpone-mixture topping into two bowls. Using the tip of a tea spoon handle, put a pea-sized blob of yellow food colouring gel into one bowl and (using a clean spoon handle) a pea-sized blob of red food colouring gel into the other bowl.
17. Streak the colour throughout each topping with the tip of the spoon handle, but DON'T mix too much - you want it to remain streaky like flames, NOT be fully distributed.
18. Use a large spoon, first spread the streaked-yellow topping over the balanced cakes. You can leave the lowest 1cm of cake uncovered (as the leaning 'twigs' will cover it and if you spread icing too close to the plate it will get very messy).
19. Then spread the red-streaked topping over the balanced cakes, again you can leave the lowest 1cm uncovered. Adding the colours separately in this way, helps to ensure that the colours don’t mix in too much.
20. Artistically pile the 3 boxes-worth of chocolate ‘twigs’ (Matchmakers or Mikado sticks or Chocolate Fingers) leaning up against the ‘flames’ of the cake, until it looks like a bonfire. Enjoy - this cake is delicious!
21. Keep this cake in the fridge before and after serving, it will stay fresh for three days if you do. *EAT ON THE DAY OF MAKING IF YOU USE MIKADO STICKS* as the bit at the base of each stick without the chocolate coating will go soggy. Chocolate Fingers and Matchmakers will stay crisp for longer due to their full coat of chocolate. This cake is so delicious that it won't last long anyway...
Adapted from a recipe in the ‘Gorgeous Cakes’ book by Annie Bell.