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    Home » Recipes » Birthday Cakes

    Chocolate Cake Decoration - An Easy Idea

    Published: Sep 2, 2020 · Modified: Sep 9, 2022 by Priya Maha

    Jump to Recipe
    Top view of a chocolate cake covered in chocolate frosting and decorated with royal icing flowers

    Looking for easy chocolate cake decoration ideas? Here is a super easy decorating idea you can use to decorate a chocolate cake. It is a super easy technique, one you can complete in less than 15 minutes with absolutely pleasing results!

    A 3 layer chocolate cake decorating in chocolate frosting and royal icing flowers. A slice of the cake is cut out onto a plate
    Simple Chocolate Cake Decoration

    Table of contents

    • How to Make 
      • Supplies you will need
      • Assembling the cake
    • Like this easy cake decoration idea? Here are my other posts you might want to check out
    • Recipe (Printable)

    How to Make 

    Supplies you will need

    • Chocolate cake - I baked the cake using my chocolate cake recipe. The cake measured 5 inches in diameter and approximately 6 inches tall. The recipe was calculated for 4 eggs and I baked it in 5 inch round cake tins.
    • Chocolate icing - The quantity was exactly as mentioned in the recipe here and it was just nice for the cake. The filling in between each cake layer was pretty thin, and that is simply because we all like it that way, but if you want more, it's best to make more icing. This recipe uses dark chocolate and the higher the quality of the chocolate used, the richer this frosting will be.
    • Royal icing - I used royal icing for the flowers on the cake (the ones in blue and white). It is perfectly fine to use buttercream flowers too. They would work just fine. I have a separate page written on how to pipe these simple flowers in buttercream and so will not be talking about how to make them here. Please click here to read on how to pipe these flowers.
    • Buttercream - I used buttercream for the leaves. Again, I had some remaining green buttercream from my other cake project, so the choice of using royal icing for the flowers and buttercream for the leaves was purely a matter of convenience for me.

    Assembling the cake

    • Start with the basics - level your cakes. I had 3 layers of cake for this project.
    3 layers cake.

    • Next is the filling. I filled each layer with a thin layer of the chocolate icing and stacked the cakes. You can increase the filling if you like. Just remember to make sure the cakes are all stacked upright in as straight a line as possible.
    3 layers of chocolate cake with chocolate icing in between each layer.

    • Once the cakes are all stacked, cover the rest of the cake with the remaining frosting. I started with the sides and then the top. At this stage, the frosting need not be smooth, suffice if it is evenly coated.
    Icing covered cake.

    • And then, using the back of a teaspoon, create a small dent on the cake. To do this, press the back of the spoon lightly into the icing (not too hard as we don't want to scrap it off the cake) and then scoop it upwards, moving the spoon away from the cake.
    Using a spoon to decorate.

    • Here is how the first scoop looked like on my cake.
    A round cake decorated in chocolate icing.

    • Continue with the rest of the cake until the whole cake is filled with 'dents' and 'spikes'. Once you get the hang of it, this should be quite fast.
    A round cake decorated in chocolate icing.
    A round cake decorated in chocolate icing.
    A round cake decorated in chocolate icing.
    Spiky decoration on cake.

    • Once that is done, your cake is pretty much done. Next is the decoration. I decorated my cake with the royal icing flowers. I placed the flowers on the cake , clustered on one side. And I completed the chocolate cake decoration with some piped buttercream leaves. You can use any other flowers you like.  
    Top view of a cake with royal icing flowers.
    Easy chocolate cake decoration

    Like this easy cake decoration idea? Here are my other posts you might want to check out

    • Pig in Mud Cake - A Cute Birthday Cake Design
    • Chocolate Heart Cookies for Valentine's Day
    • 75th Birthday Cake Idea for Dad
    • Tools Cake Idea for Men
    • Father's Day Cake - An Easy Decorating Tutorial
    • Easy Mother's Day Cake - A Decorating Tutorial

    Recipe (Printable)

    Here is the full printable version the of the chocolate cake decoration.

    📖Recipe

    Top view of a chocolate cake covered in chocolate frosting and decorated with royal icing flowers

    Chocolate Cake Decoration

    Looking for an easy chocolate cake decoration idea? Here is one you can decorate in less than 15 minutes with absolutely pleasing results!
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Chocolate Cake Decoration Idea
    Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes
    Decorating time: 15 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes
    Yield: 1 Five inches round cake
    Author: Priya Maha
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Metric - US Customary

    For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.

    Ingredients

    Chocolate Cake

    • 220 g self raising flour
    • 20 g cocoa powder
    • 240 g castor sugar
    • 240 g butter at room temperature
    • 4 eggs at room temperature
    • 60 ml milk
    • ⅛ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon baking powder
    • ⅔ teaspoon vanilla essence

    Chocolate Icing

    • 170 g dark chocolate
    • 100 g butter salted
    • 180 g icing sugar

    Decoration

    • Royal icing flowers
    • Buttercream tinted in green for the flowers
    Metric - US Customary

    Instructions

    Baking the cakes

    • Preheat oven to 170°Celsius.
    • Beat butter and castor sugar till soft and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
    • In a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt 3 times. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
    • Finally add vanilla essence and combine well.
    • Pour the batter into three well greased and floured 5-inches round cake tins. Level the tops and bake the cakes for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cakes come out without any wet batter.

    Making the icing

    • Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of hot water. Let the chocolate melt over the hot steam. Stir occasionally.
    • Once the chocolate is almost melted, add the butter. Remove from heat and stir until all chocolate and butter is melted and combined.
    • Next, sift the icing sugar to remove any lumps. Add it to the chocolate icing mixture and beat well.
    • If the icing is too dry, add a bit more butter.

    Decorating the cake

    • Once the cakes have cooled down, level the top.
    • Fill each layer with a thin layer of the chocolate icing and stack the cakes. Remember to make sure the cakes are stacked upright in as straight a line as possible.
    • Once the cakes are all stacked, cover the rest of the cake with the remaining frosting. You can start with the sides and then the top. At this stage, the frosting need not be smooth, suffice if it is evenly coated.
    • Next, using the back of a teaspoon, create a small dent on the cake. To do this, press the back of the spoon lightly into the icing (not too hard as we don't want to scrap it off the cake) and then scoop it upwards, moving the spoon away from the cake.
    • Continue with the rest of the cake until the whole cake is filled with 'dents' and 'spikes'. Once you get the hang of it, this should be quite fast to do it.
    • Once that is done, your cake is pretty much done. Next is the decoration. I decorated my cake with the royal icing flowers. Place the flowers on the cake and complete the cake decoration with some buttercream leaves.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 6061.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 697.8g | Protein: 64g | Fat: 359.8g | Saturated Fat: 217.7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 17.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 98.6g | Trans Fat: 11.2g | Cholesterol: 1393.2mg | Sodium: 3004.3mg | Potassium: 1447.1mg | Fiber: 22g | Sugar: 508.3g | Vitamin A: 9551.6IU | Calcium: 477.9mg | Iron: 13.1mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @decorated_treats or tag #decoratedtreats!

    Hope you enjoyed this easy chocolate cake decoration idea.

    Happy cake decorating!

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    I'm Priya, and I'm so excited that you dropped by :) Welcome to DECORATED TREATS, a place where I share all my cake decorating ideas & true and tried recipes for all things sweet.

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