Decorating The Chocolate Guinness Cake

Asked by mimiphillips1. Answered on 7th May 2016

Full question

Can I cover the cream cheese icing for the Chocolate Guinness Cake in melted chocolate? I want to be able to paint a pattern onto the cake which I don't think I could achieve on the icing as it's so soft.

Our answer

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from FEAST) is topped with a soft icing made from cream cheese and whipped cream. It is quite soft and is likely also to melt slightly if melted chocolate is poured over the top. A very light dusting of cocoa powder would add a bit more contrast to the icing if you wanted to embellish the cake, or some store-bought chocolate decorations.

If you had a specific pattern in mind then you could probably pipe some melted chocolate on to baking parchment (parchment paper) and let it set, then carefully lift the shapes off the paper and put them on to the cake. However this process is quite fiddly and the chocolate shapes are fragile, so it is easiest to make small shapes that are easier to handle. Any decorations should be added just before the cake is served, as they will soften as the cake stands.