Full question
How does the Chocolate Guinness Cake hold up to layering and decorating? I want to make about 4-5 layers of this cake in a 6-7 inch pan. My brother is turning 21 and I want to make a chocolate Guinness cake in the shape of a beer mug. I would only be using the recipe for the cake. I’ve made other cakes before that were too delicate or too heavy and they didn’t work well.
Our answer
Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake (from FEAST) is made using the melt and mix method and gives a moist cake. The texture of the cake is not too open or crumbly, so we have seen examples where people have layered, shaped and decorated the cake, though it is not something we have tried ourselves.
When using more than two layers for the cake, we would suggest using dowelling rods to hold the layers together securely. If cutting the cake to shape it, it is usually easier to do this if the cake is part frozen as this reduces the risk of the cake crumbling as it is cut. For inspiration, we would suggest looking at the Cookalong page as the Chocolate Guinness Cake is the March 2022 Cookalong recipe, but also if you look at previous Cookalongs, there are photos of the cake layered and shaped for earlier competitions.
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