Brush a deep bowl lightly with oil. Cover the bottom of the bowl with a baking paper circle. Set aside the 5 biscuits. Mix the brandy and coffee, and soak the remaining biscuits in it for a short time. Line the bottom of the bowl with halved biscuits and the edge with the whole biscuits (sweetened sides facing upwards).
Whip the cream until stiff and fold in the mascarpone. Put half of the cream mixture in a second bowl. Mix cocoa powder and powered sugar in one portion, and cherries into the other portion of cream and mascarpone mix.
Layer the cream mixtures in the bowl. Place the spoonfuls of biscuits on the last cream layer, pressing down firmly. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight to set.
Before serving, place a flat plate on the bowl, turn the bowl over and lift off the Charlotte. Dust your Charlotte with cocoa and powered sugar, and garnish with cherries. Finally drizzle over the chocolate, and you are ready to serve.
Preheat the over to 180°C. Grease the cake tins and cover the bottom with baking paper. Beat the butter and sugar with a whisk until frothy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each egg thoroughly before adding the next one. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a second bowl. Stir in the cooled coffee, milk and vanilla essence in a third bowl.
While stirring, add the flour and the coffee mixture to the butter-egg mixture and mix everything into a smooth dough. Fill the dough into the two cake tins.
Bake the cakes at 180°C in the over until golden brown, approximately 30-35 minutes The cakes are ready when they spring back to light finger pressure and no more dough sticks to a stick when placed into the cake. Remove from the over, allow to cool in the cake tins for a few minutes, then remove and allow to cool in the cake times for a few minutes, then remove and allow to cool on cooling trays. For the butter cream, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the cocoa powder and simmer for 1-2 minutes stirring, then remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Add the powdered sugar to the cocoa butter and mix thoroughly. Stir in the milk one tablespoon at a time until a smooth, shiny mass has formed, allow to cool (it will thicken). Spread half of the buttercream on to one of the cakes. Put the cake on top and spread the rest of the cream on to the second cake. Finally, use a peeler or grater to remove pieces from the chocolate. Garnish the cake with the chocolate shavings.
Grown up hot chocolate
Grown up hot chocolate. Picture: Pinterest
Ingredients
1 Jacobs Mocha or Choc Hazelnut instant cappuccino sachet (1 sachet per 200ml hot water)
Hot water
Marshmallows (you can decide how many)
Chocolate shavings
Whipped cream (optional)
Instructions
Pour the Jacobs cappuccino sachet into a warm mug.
Boil the kettle. Once the water is boiled pour it into the mug. Stir continuously for 1 minute.
Choose your marshmallows (amount and colours) and place on top of your cappuccino.
Add a dollop of whipped cream to the top. (optional)
