Making The Cake

1. Oven to 180C. Line the two cake tins (12″ round) with parchment and double wrap the outside with brown paper to help with even cooking. In a large pan, melt the dark chocolate, whole milk and a third of the sugar until smooth over a low heat. Remove and cool.
2. Cream the butter and remaining sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs two at a time, with the vanilla and salt. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda until no streaks.
3. Mix in the cooled chocolate mix and orange extract. Split the mix between the two tins. Bake for 1 hour and rotate halfway through for even cooking. Leave to cool in the tin. Cover and leave overnight before levelling and icing.
4. To make the buttercream. Melt the chocolate, leave to cool. Beat the butter until creamy, gradually beating in the icing sugar and orange extract. Finally, beat in the cooled chocolate. Leave covered at room temperature.

To Assemble The Cake

1. I levelled the chocolate cakes so they were the same height. Placed one of the cakes on the cake stand, then ‘blobbed’ on some of the buttercream. I levelled this with a palette knife. Slide on the other cake, making sure the flattest side was on top. Using the remaining buttercream, giving both cakes a light coating to act as a glue to the fondant.
2. I kneaded the coloured fondant before using, and on a HUGE silicone mat, dusted with plenty of icing sugar, approx 1 kg of fondant and measuring the width to make sure I rolled it out enough. Then the tricky bit, lifting off the fondant and transferring to cover the cake. You need nerves of steel and no tears. Using your palms, easy the fondant to cover the cake without any overlaying or folds. This just takes practice- sorry. Trim off the excess fondant to not drag down and crack the surface. Trim the fondant to the edge of the cake to give it a crisp edge. Using your palms, ‘polish’ and smooth the appearance of the fondant.
3. Repeat with the other tiers and sheet cakes using the corresponding buttercreams as the glues.