30th Birthday Cake: Chocolate Soil Cake - Base Layer

Begin by making the jelly worms. Soak the gelatine leaf in cold water for 5 minutes. Cut the jelly into cubes in a bowl. Pour over the boiling water and stir to completely dissolve. Squeeze the water from the gelatine leaves and add to the bowl. Next stir through the cold water and leave to cool.

Once the jelly is cool, oil your jelly worm mould lightly with your fingers or a paintbrush. Place your moulds on to a baking tray too make it easier to move your jelly in and out of the fridge. Using your jelly mould pipette start to fill your worm moulds with half of the jelly mixture. Once you have used half the mixture stir through the milk to create a milky strawberry jelly mix and repeat the pipette filing process to create a mass of jelly worms! Place in the fridge to fully set. Ideally overnight.

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan. Set the saucepan over a medium heat and warm, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Pour in your milk and coffee and mix together. This will also help cool down the mixture slightly. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer or separate bowl and leave to cool fully.

Break the eggs into a mug or jug, add the vanilla and beat together with a fork. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, add in the eggs and beat with the whisk attachment or hand held electric whisk to fully combine.

Finally, sift the cocoa powder, flour and bicarb into the mixture, beating until everything is well combined and no flour is visible in the wet, smooth batter. Carefully pour the mixture into a grease and lined 24cm round tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cakes have risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out fairly clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring, to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat this process to create 3 chocolate soil cakes. Equally if you have two 24cm tins, you can double the mix and bake 2 cakes at once, before making and baking the final layer.

While the cakes are baking, make the ganache. Put the double cream, chocolate and golden syrup into a heat proof bowl set over a bain marie saucepan. Gently heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolates melted and everything’s combined, smooth and shiny. Leave to cool fully, in the fridge if needed.

Next make the soil piñata. Put the chocolate, butter and sugar into a heat proof bowl set over a bain marie saucepan. Gently heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolates melted and everything’s combined, smooth and shiny. Add in the cereal and stir together to fully coat in the chocolate mixture. Transfer on to a parchment lined tray and spread out fully. Leave to set in the fridge, breaking up when firm enough to handle to create a mix of chocolate cereal.

While the soil piñata mix, ganache and cakes are cooling make the buttercream. Beat the butter in a stand mixer or with a handheld electric whisk, until soft and pale. Sift the icing sugar into the bowl in batches, beating in each batch until combined. Add the vanilla extract and cream towards the end of adding the icing sugar. Covering the bowl with a tea towel helps to prevent a cloud of sugar escaping during this beating in stage! Beat until smooth, creamy and almost white. I recommend beating for up to 5/10 minutes at full speed to create a really light and fluffy finish. Finally turn the mixer down to slow to beat out any air bubbles and use a hand held spatula to knock out any remaining ones.

When your cakes and ganache have fully cooled and you’re ready to assemble, level the tops off if needed with a cake leveller or sharp knife. Make up your milk soak my mixing together the milk and vanilla extract. Prick the top of your cakes with a fork or cocktail stick and paint over the vanilla milk soak to add both extra moistness and flavour to the sponges.

Assemble your cake by placing one layer on to a cake board and placing the board on to a cake turntable. Apply half of the cooled and thickened ganache on top and smooth and level off with a small off set spatula. Place another of the cakes on top and repeat the process, but be sure to use only half the ganache mixture this time as you’ll need the rest once you’ve cut out your piñata heart. Place the cake in the fridge to allow the ganache to firm up and set. Once set remove from the fridge and cut a heart out from the centre of the cake and use a spoon to carve of the layers of cake and ganache.

Set this ‘soil’ aside to place around the cake later. Take a handful of it to roll into small ‘dung rolls’ rolling in cocoa powder to create the appearance of a dung beetles rolls.

Mix your soil piñata cereal mix with mixed seeds, chocolate covered seeds/raisins and salted corn. Spoon this into your cut out heart, layering as you go with your jelly worms, dung beetle balls and chocolate beetles and bugs if using. Once the heart is full, spread the remainder of your ganache on the top of your last chocolate soil cake layer and place this down on to the cake, leaving a flat top. Place the cake in the fridge to allow the filling to firm up, before applying your crumb coat of buttercream.

To add your crumb coat, spread a thin layer over the entire cake with an offset spatula, filling in all the cracks and gaps between layers. Smooth it all out with your cake scraper, using the cake turntable to help turn and smooth off the cakes sides and top. It should look like a semi-naked cake that’s level on the sides and top. Return the cake to the fridge for at least an hour to let it firm up a bit before adding your final layer of buttercream.

Decorate by surrounding the base with the broken up chocolate cut out heart ‘soil’ and crushed up bourbon biscuits to resemble the appearance of top soil. Add a mix of glitter balls and flowers.

You can choose to bake just one of the three tiers of the Yeo Valley celebration birthday cake, or stack up to create a showstopper tower, like seen in the photos and illustration. Equally follow the recipe to make your very own Yeo cupcakes, complete with hidden piñata soil core and cow biscuit!