Chocolate whipped cream
- Place milk chocolate in a bowl.
- In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes without stirring. Whisk until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until cream has cooled completely.
Cake
- Place rack in centre of oven. Preheat oven to 180 °C (350 °F). Grease the sides of two 20-cm (8-in.) springform pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, buttermilk, oil and vanilla.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and water. Add to egg mixture. Add dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Pour batter into pans.
- Bake for 45–50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack. Remove from pans.
Assembly
- Using an electric mixer, whip milk chocolate whipped cream until firm peaks form but it is still spreadable. Remove 375 mL (1 ½ cups) whipped cream and transfer to a pastry bag or a plastic freezer bag with a pastry tip inserted into a cut-off corner.
- Cut and remove tops of cakes to make them flat. Using a spatula, spread whipped cream evenly over cake slices. Layer cake slices on top of each other and place on a serving plate.
- Place stencil on cake. Sprinkle with cocoa powder. Carefully remove stencil to reveal design.
- Decorate top edge of cake with dots of chocolate whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve. The cake keeps for 3 days under a cake dome in the refrigerator.
Note
If you don’t have buttermilk, add 7.5 mL (1 ½ tsp.) white vinegar or lemon juice to 125 mL (½ cup) milk. Let stand for 5–10 minutes and stir.