Chocolate owl cake

Another friend's birthday was in December and again I was lacking inspiration of what to make for them. I had previously made some chocolate owl cupcakes (pictured below) for a friend's 18th birthday, so decided to transform them into a bigger cake.

The cake 

The cake itself is a three layer chocolate cake iced with my favourite chocolate icing and then decorated with an array of chocolate to form the owl.

I used my all in one chocolate cake recipe posted in a previous blog (http://icingonthecakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/essential-cake-recipes.html), and my favourite chocolate icing which can be found here http://icingonthecakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-perfect-chocolate-icing_5.html.

I sandwiched the three cakes together (after cooling and levelling them) and then iced the top and sides (with the thicker chocolate icing) to give a finished look and make sure that the chocolate had something to stick on to.

The owl

The owl is made from:

• Giant chocolate buttons
• One twix
• One finger of fudge
• Two small chocolate drops
• Chocolate vermicelli sprinkles
• Chocolate buttercream - recipe below 
• One flake bar 

Chocolate buttercream 

55g softened butter (unsalted)

85g icing sugar

30g cocoa powder (sieved)

1 tbsp milk

Beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add half the icing sugar and beat until all of it is mixed in. Next, add the remaining icing sugar and cocoa powder and gradually add the milk. Continue beating until all milk is added and the buttercream looks soft and light

Decorating

Begin by making the chocolate buttercream and leave to one side to cool.

Layer the chocolate buttons across the bottom half of the cake to form a feathered effect - about 25 are needed and I found out that by chilling the buttons in the freezer before hand prevents them from melting in your hands and makes it easier to layer them. Don't scrape away any excess chocolate icing as it may be needed to help the buttons stick down.

Using the buttercream made earlier, pipe using a star nozzle on the edges of the cake to make the feathers on the head of the owl. I found that the buttercream needs to be cool and a layer of large feathers topped with a layer of smaller feathers accentuates the desired effect. 

Sprinkle the chocolate vermicelli in the area between the buttercream fathers and the chocolate buttons to begin making the face of the owl. 

Using a dab of remaining icing stick two giant chocolate buttons on top of the vermicelli and then stick the two small chocolate drops to make the owl's eyes. 

Cut the twix into a triangle to make the nose of the owl and stick in between the eyes. 

Then cut the finger of fudge into two small triangles and push into the sides of the cake to make the arms.

Finally cut the flake into four small rectangles to make the legs of the owl and push into the bottom of the cake just below the chocolate buttons. 

You should now have a cake which looks like an owl!

Note: the cake difficult to cute because of the layers of chocolate buttons, but trying to cut it in the middle of a muddy field whilst watching a rugby game doesn't help! A flat surface is required! 

The comments I got about the cake were great and although everyone got chunks instead of slices, they all seemed to love it!