A slice of heaven in Kilkenny

It’s a recipe I have never seen fail or flop,” Mary McEvoy assures Irish Country Living as she passes me a bright-pink apron.

Considering I’d get in a flap over a batch of rice crispy buns, I’m not sure I share her confidence given the ambitious task ahead: a chocolate cake with silky ganache, buttercream rosettes, handmade truffles, sugar-craft flowers and – wait for it – bubble wrap chocolate. But as Mary is the woman behind A Slice of Heaven Kilkenny Cookery School, I suspect I’m in safe hands.

Raised on a dairy farm in Piltown, Mary left her job as a pastry chef 10 years ago, after demand for her sublime wedding and celebration cakes lead to setting up A Slice of Heaven.

Named producer of the year by John and Sally McKenna in 2009, she and husband Neil set up a pâtisserie on Kilkenny’s High Street in 2012, but in April they relocated to Friary Street, where they launched their new cafe and cookery school.

“There were a few restless nights,” admits Mary of the move, which they financed from savings. “But there’s nothing like it in Kilkenny and it’s now or never. We just had to take the leap.”

Catering for children aged six right up to adults, there is something for every would-be Mary Berry, from an afternoon tea class where you learn how to make crème brûlée, brandy snaps, shortbread, coffee and walnut cake and, of course, the perfect scone, to learning how to decorate your own wedding cake.

Meanwhile, Neil, who is also a chef, teaches practical classes, like one chicken-five recipes, easy entertaining and cooking survival skills for college students (which, even at 32, I could probably benefit from). Hen and birthday parties are also catered for, while kids’ clubs are proving popular.

Chocolate heaven

But back to the task at hand. The chocolate truffle cake is one of Mary’s go-to recipes due to its many uses. It can easily be used as the base for her Oreo or salted caramel cupcakes, or tweaked with lashings of cream and kirsch for a black forest gateau.

“The amount of milk that we use in this recipe is key,” she says, explaining that the dairy goodness – which Mary actually measures with a weighing scales rather than a traditional jug – cuts through any bitterness, while giving the cake a light consistency.

Within minutes, it’s whipped up and in the oven. Then the fun begins. To make the ganache for the filling and truffles, Mary simply brings a half pint of cream to the boil before pouring it over a bowl of chocolate chips.

“If you want, you can add a little bit of Cointreau, Baileys, basically anything that goes with chocolate, and it just gives another little kick,” she says.

The chocolate bubble wrap technique is similarly fool-proof (ie Maria-proof). Sprinkle melted white chocolate over a length of bubble wrap, cover with a layer of melted dark chocolate and leave to set in the fridge before breaking into shards.

“That’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t matter what way it goes,” says Mary, as I send more chocolate across her counter than across the bubble wrap.

Next it’s on to the chocolate rosettes. I once destroyed several pansy plants trying to make crystallised flowers, but Mary simply takes some chocolate-flavoured fondant, cuts out five circles, overlaps them, rolls down gently and voilá: two roses for the price of one after a little pinching and peeling to reveal the chocolate petals.

Finally, it’s time to assemble the cake. I admit, I’m hardly sitting in the car before I’ve taken a sneaky slice. And it’s the closest thing to heaven for this chocoholic.

For information about upcoming courses, visit www.asliceofheaven.ie or call 087-9533-870. CL

Chocolate Truffle Cake

150g of butter

340g of caster sugar

3 eggs

330g of milk

260g of flour

7g of bread soda

115g of cocoa powder

1 Cream the butter and sugar together.

2 Add the eggs and mix thoroughly.

3 Sieve the flour, bread soda and cocoa powder, and add them to the mix along with the milk.

4 Beat until well mixed and smooth.

5 Pour the batter into a lined 10in round tin, then bake it at 180°C for 40 minutes.

Chocolate Buttercream

150g of icing sugar

100g of butter (soft)

30g of dark chocolate (melted)

1 Beat the sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy, then add the melted chocolate and beat for five more minutes until the mixture comes together and is light and smooth.

2 You will use your buttercream to stick the bubblewrap chocolate shards to the sides of the cake, to pipe the swirls/rosettes across the top and to secure the truffles.

Chocolate ganache & truffles

480g of dark chocolate

300g of cream

1 Bring the cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate.

2 Stir until the mixture is emulsified and then chill until needed.

3 Carefully slice your cake in half. Use the ganache to sandwich both halves together and to create a glossy finish on top.

4 To create the truffles, allow the ganache to harden a little by chilling it in the fridge. Use a melon baller to scoop out the truffles, toss them in a little cocoa powder and secure on top of the cake using the chocolate buttercream.

Bubble Wrap Chocolate

50g of white chocolate

100g of dark chocolate

1 Melt the white chocolate.

2 Melt the dark chocolate.

3 Drizzle the white chocolate onto bubble wrap, then cover it with dark chocolate and smooth it out.

4 Place the chocolate-covered bubble wrap in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

5 To use, pull the bubble wrap away from the chocolate, break the chocolate into shards and stick to the sides of the cake using the chocolate buttercream.

Chocolate Roses

1 Roll out the chocolate flavoured fondant (shop-bought is fine) to 2mm thick.

2 Cut it into five circles, 4cm in diameter.

3 Lay the five discs in a line, overlapping halfway on each other.

4 Roll them up and pinch in the middle, then cut through. This leaves two roses.

5 Gently pull the petals apart and use to decorate the cake.