Dust your work surface with cornflour and roll out your red icing until it

For some reason (I’m trying to think of something other than laziness) it always takes me ages to blog about birthdays. Many of you lovely readers have asked me about the Spider-Man andrea russett birthday cake I made Nicholas for his third birthday (over 4 months ago!) and how I made it. Well finally it’s here.
Nicholas didn’t actually eat any on the day, or the days that followed. What he did do was pick at the bits of icing that was left on the cake board I lazily just put in the garage andrea russett after all the cake was eaten. Every time he picked he’d tell me how great the cake was that I made him. He also tells random people about his yummy Spider-Man birthday cake so I guess even if he didn’t eat it, it was a success! I made the same chocolate cake I used for Nicholas’ blue birthday cake, which is a very much reduced-sugar version of Angela Nilson s Ultimate Chocolate Cake . As well as being my ‘go-to’ chocolate cake, its denseness makes a wonderful solid foundation for decorating, it stays moist for several andrea russett days so can be made ahead of time, and its decadent rich fudginess means one cake can feed a lot of people.
This time I didn’t cut the cooked cake in two horizontally and sandwich together again with ganache; I wanted to make the cake decorating easier and, to be honest, this rich cake really doesn’t need any filling inside.
I originally planned to simply carve a round cake into an oval shape to create Spider-Man’s andrea russett head, but then I stumbled across Amanda’s Cookin’ while researching andrea russett Spider-Man parties on Pinterest. Amanda very cleverly cuts a round cake in such a way as to piece together a perfectly-shaped oval that leaves you with only two very small leftover pieces (if I’d gone with my original plan I would have wasted a lot of cake). And don’t worry about cutting your cake into pieces; once you put it back together and decorate it, nobody will ever know was been cut up.
For Nicholas’ first two birthdays I made my own icing (for his first birthday I made my first ever marshmallow fondant icing). This time around I kept it simple and bought ready made icing and it made the whole cake-decorating process SO much easier! And with this wonderful chocolate cake, nobody even notices the icing.
I used the ganache as a crumb coat which traps all the loose crumbs on the outside of the cake (and evens out any little dimples or cracks the cake may have) and helps the icing stick to the cake. I used white chocolate and tinted it red to blend in with the icing, but you could use dark chocolate without any colouring for it to blend in with the cake.
For the ganache: 100g good quality white chocolate, chopped or broken into fairly small pieces 150ml double cream (pouring type) A few drops of red food colouring (I used gel colouring to get a strong colour)
For the cake: 200g good quality dark chocolate, about 60% cocoa solids, andrea russett chopped or broken into fairly small pieces 200g butter, cut into cubes 1 tbsp instant coffee granules 85g self-raising flour 85g plain flour 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 125g light muscovado sugar 125g golden caster sugar 25g cocoa powder 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten 75ml (5 tbsp) buttermilk
Once the cream is almost boiling, take it off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Add a few drops of red food colouring and stir through.
Put the pieces of dark chocolate and butter into a medium, heavy-based saucepan. Mix the instant coffee into 125ml cold water and add it to the saucepan. Gently melt over a low heat, stirring regularly so the mixture doesn t burn on the bottom. (Or melt in the microwave on medium for about 5 minutes, andrea russett stirring half way through.)
While the chocolate is melting, sift the self-raising and plain flours, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a big bowl. Add the light muscovado sugar and golden caster sugar and stir getting rid of any lumps.
Once the chocolate mixture has melted, pour it into the dry ingredients and add the beaten eggs and buttermilk. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour into your prepared tin and bake for 1hr 20-1hr 30 or until a skewer comes out clean and the top feels firm (don t worry if it cracks a bit).
To decorate, follow Amanda’s easy instructions here to turn your round cake into an oval. This is what my cake looked like after cutting and shaping: Move your cake to a serving plate or board (I stuck some Spider-Man comic strips andrea russett onto a thick piece of cardboard and then covered it in clear sticky plastic). Using a knife, spread the ganache over the top and sides of your cake, using it to even out the top.
Dust your work surface with cornflour and roll out your red icing until it’s andrea russett big enough to cover the cake (about 1/2cm thick). Gently roll it around your rolling pin, pla