Chocolate Mocha Cake with Brandy Coffee Cream and Chocolate Fingers

My boss was celebrating her birthday and I decided to make a cake for her. Figured something with alcohol in it would be nice but I did not want to overpower the cake with it either so here's my version of a chocolate mocha cake with brandy coffee cream and chocolate fingers.

Cake ingredients:

2 cups golden caster sugar

1 3/4 cup self-raising flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup melted butter

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup hot strong coffee

Icing ingredients:

1 x 300g cream cheese

1x 284ml double cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tbsp brandy

1 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp non-instant coffee granules

Pink frosting ingredients:

124ml double cream

2 squirts of red coloring

Additional decoration:

3 packets of cadbury chocolate fingers

2 chocolate hearts

Method:

1. Firstly heat up your oven to 180 Degree Celcius and line your cake tin.
2. Then sift all your dry ingredients together except the salt. Then melt the butter either in the microwave oven or on the stove. Beat the sugar and butter together before beating in the eggs one by one.
3. Once it looks pale and fluffy, add in half the dry ingredients and the cup of milk and beat till combined. Then add the second half of the dry ingredients and the coffee and beat till well combined.
4. Pour into your cake tin and bake for about 50 minutes or until when pricked with a skewer or toothpick, it comes out clean. Take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes before removing the cake tin and letting it cool down.
5. Next prepare your icing. Combine all the ingredients together and beat until everything is combined. Set aside.
6. Next prepare the pink frosting by combining the ingredients and beat til stiff. Set aside.
7. Now assemble the cake. Firstly place a little bit of icing on the base of the board before placing the cake on the board. This will prevent the cake from moving. Then slice the cake in half and remove the top half and put on the cutting board.
8. Take some icing and spread it evenly along the cake, depending on how thick you want it to be. Then add the second cake layer on top. Then start icing the cake firstly on the sides before finally covering the top. 
9. Next using the chocolate fingers, line them up like a fence. I used white chocolate fingers and normal chocolate fingers. Then place the two chocolate hearts on the side or wherever you think it would look nice. 
10. Pipe the red frosting using a nozzle of your choice with whatever message you want to write.
11. Serve with a nice glass of wine or a hot cup of coffee or tea.

This is how the cake looks like close up. To smoothen your icing, prepare a tall glass of hot water, dip your spatula in and spread it across. You can alternatively use a knife. The heat will spread it evenly.

Trust me, the cake was divine... my colleagues vouched for it.

Off to Germany for a few days,

The Innovative Baker