Preheat your oven to 170C/150C Fan, and line two 8"/20cm deep cake tins with parchment paper.
Add the butter and sugar to a bowl, and beat till light and fluffy.
Add in the flour, cocoa powder and eggs and beat again until a lovely smooth cake mixture is formed.
Split evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean!)
Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
For the 6" Vanilla Cake!
Preheat your oven to 170C/150C Fan, and line two 6"/15cm deep cake tins with parchment paper.
Add the butter and sugar to a bowl, and beat till light and fluffy.
Add in the flour, eggs and vanilla extract and beat again until a lovely smooth cake mixture is formed.
Split evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean!)
Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
Chocolate Buttercream
Beat the butter on its own for a while in your mixer until its smooth and supple.
Add in your icing sugar and cocoa powder a little at a time and beat fully until its light and fluffy!
(If the mixture is really stiff, add in 1-2tbsp of boiling water and beat fully to smooth out)
Vanilla Buttercream
Beat the butter on its own for a while in your mixer until its smooth and supple.
Add in your icing sugar and vanilla extract a little at a time and beat fully until its light and fluffy!
(If the mixture is really stiff, add in 1-2tbsp of boiling water and beat fully to smooth out)
For the Ganache
Add the the dark chocolate and milk chocolate to a large bowl.
Add the cream to a pan and heat till just before boiling point. Pour over chocolate and leave to sit for 5 minutes. Once sat, mix until smooth (Add back to the pan if its not quite melted).
Leave the ganache in a bowl and stir every few minutes until it forms a peanut butter like consistency - you can do this in the fridge as well, just make sure to stir it so it doesn't set too quickly!
You can also whip the ganache with an electric whisk to make it lighter and more mousse like.
Assembly.
Level the cakes off if necessary. Split the two chocolate cakes so you have four layers in total.
Add your first cake to a cake board (I use a large 10" cake board) and secure with a small amount of buttercream.
Spread some chocolate buttercream onto the first layer, add the second sponge. Repeat until you reach the top layer of cake.
Spread some chocolate buttercream around the sides to fill in the gaps and create a crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes.
Repeat this process with the vanilla cake in the same way. (I use a 6" thin cake board for this one)
Once refrigerated and the ganache is ready, using an angled spatula, slather over the chocolate ganache and then smooth around using a large metal scraper. Do this for both cakes!
Once the ganache is on, refrigerate the cakes for another 30 minutes.
Insert some doweling supports for your cake into the larger 8" cake. I used four dowels. You want them to be towards the middle of the cake, for the 6" cake to sit on top of.
Using a small amount of buttercream, or ganache, spread that on top of where the dowels are, and stick the smaller cake on top of the larger cake.
If using, pour the edible paint into a small bowl and using a paint brush, flick the paint over the cake (make sure you protect the surfaces around the cake).
Drip Ganache
Add the the dark chocolate and milk chocolate to a large bowl. Add the cream to a pan and heat till just before boiling point. Pour over chocolate and leave to sit for 5 minutes. Once sat, mix until smooth (Add back to the pan if its not quite melted).
Using a small piping pag, drip the ganache down the sides of the two cakes, and fill in the tops of both cakes. If you can, let the cake set in the fridge for 30 minutes again.