How to Make a Chocolate Drip Cake

Chocolate drip cakes are one of the most versatile types of cake. You can customise a chocolate drip cake to suit the occasion – they’re perfect for birthdays, anniversaries or even weddings. They can be topped with all sorts of things too – flowers, sweets, macarons, meringues, chocolate shards – the list is endless! They’re pretty simple to make, as long as you have a few basic cake tools.

Chocolate Drip Cake Tutorial

A chocolate drip cake is basically a buttercream or ganache iced cake with the chocolate drip added afterwards. To get a super smooth, professional buttercream finish to your cake, you will need:

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• Your stacked and filled cake, sat on a cake board the same size as the cake
• A cake turntable
• A cake scraper (I like to use a stainless steel one)
• A pair of ganache plates 1/4″ bigger than your cake diameter
• Palette knife
• Buttercream of your choice
• Circle of greaseproof paper slightly smaller than your cake diameter

How to Get a Perfect Buttercream Finish

Stack and fill your cake on a cake board or card the same size diameter (so if your cake is 6″ use a 6″ cake board). I like to use three layers of cake and two layers of filling. Be sure the cakes are stacked evenly on top of each other – put the cake on the cake turntable and slowly rotate it so you can check.

Using your palette knife, spread buttercream on the top of the cake, making sure you have full coverage. Don’t worry if buttercream hangs over the side of the cake. Put the greaseproof circle on top and add a ganache plate, making sure the cake is in the centre of the plate. Flip the cake over, so it’s upside down.

Put the other ganache plate on the bottom of the stacked cake, now the top. Using a bit of buttercream, stick the plate in place. Use the cake scraper to line up the cake plates by resting it on the work surface and making sure both ganache plates touch it. You can chill the cake in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up while you have a cup of tea.

Using the palette knife, fill in the gap between the two ganache plates with buttercream, making sure to get an even layer of buttercream around the whole cake. Scrape off the excess with your cake scraper. Keep filling in and smoothing the buttercream until you’re happy with it.

Top tip: Use a metal palette knife dipped in some hot water to get rid of any lines or marks in the buttercream.

Put the whole cake back in the fridge for 30-45 minutes, or until the buttercream feels firm. Remove from the fridge and flip the cake the right way up. Using a sharp knife, or the edge of your cake scraper, remove the top ganache plate and peel off the greaseproof paper. Use your cake scraper to level the top of the cake where the greaseproof paper was, then remove the bottom ganache plate.

Put your cake onto a larger board now, if you want.

Put the cake back in the fridge while you make the chocolate drip.

Easy White Chocolate Drip Recipe

To make an easy white chocolate drip for a cake, you will need:

• 150g white chocolate
• 75g double cream
• Colouring of your choice (I like to use Colour Mill)
• Your cake, which has been chilled for 30-45 minutes and feels cold to the touch.

Start by melting your white chocolate in a small bowl over a pan of hot water (or use a microwave on short bursts if you prefer). When the chocolate has melted, set it to one side.

In a heavy bottomed pan, bring the cream to the boil and simmer for one minute. Add the cream to the chocolate and whisk together. Add your colouring and mix well.

Remove your cake from the fridge and using a spoon (or one of those fancy squeezy bottles if you want) add the drip to the cake. Work around the edge of the cake first then fill in the middle. As the drip runs down the side of the cake, it will set as the cake is cool.

Add your toppings of choice, and there you go – one white chocolate drip cake!

You can top your white chocolate drip cake with some homemade meringues, macarons, white chocolate shards and some fresh roses – let your imagination run wild!

Chocolate Drip Birthday Cake Ideas

These are just a few of the cakes I made during my time as a birthday and wedding cake maker. There are so many ways to decorate a chocolate drip birthday cake! A couple of these are from my daughter’s birthdays over the years (her latest cake is here).