Preheat your oven to 350°F and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Prepare 3 batches of Yo’s Ultimate Chocolate Cake batter, then bake as follows: 

7” round cake pan → 2 ¼ lbs chocolate cake batter → 1 hour and 15 minutes

7” round cake pan → 2 ¼ lbs chocolate cake batter → 1 hour and 15 minutes

7” round cake pan → 2 ¼ lbs chocolate cake batter → 1 hour and 15 minutes

9” round cake pan → 3 ½ lbs chocolate cake batter → 1 hour and 25 minutes

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pan(s) halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely in the pan(s). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Loosen the edges of your cakes with a straight spatula, and invert the pans to remove the cake, and peel off the parchment. Using a large serrated knife and a lazy susan, level and layer two of the 7” round cakes and make sure to save the humps. Layer the third 7” cake but don’t level it. 

Stack up your 6 cake layers then place the cake layer with the hump on top. Use a large serrated knife to shape your stack into an acorn leaving a slight peak on top. Take your 9” cake layer then using a small serrated knife, round out the top and bottom edges. Add the 7” cake hump that you saved previously on top. 

Carefully unstack your cakes then use Sir Squeeze A Lot to soak all of your layers with simple syrup. Set aside for a few minutes to absorb. 

Fill and stack the body of the acorn cake upside down with hazelnut frosting. Fill the “cap” part of the acorn with chocolate ganache. 

Crumb coat both parts of the acorn with ganache then let them chill in the fridge until firm. Once you remove the cakes, ice them again using my invention - a square piece of acetate, to smooth out the edges and chill for about 20 minutes.

Roll out some brown fondant then cover each part of the cake with the fondant. For the “cap,” flip it over and crimp the fondant at the bottom then trim away any excess. 

Use a strip cutter to texture the sides of the body of the acorn. Drag it up along the sides and all the way around. Add texture to the “cap” of the acorn by pressing leaf cutters into it. Lift the edges up with a sculpting tool. 

Dye some brown fondant a bit darker using brown and black. Roll it into a thick cord then brush a dowel with clear piping gel and insert it into the stem. Squeeze the fondant around to add texture then use a sculpting tool to texture it further. Use a grass tip to texture the top then set it aside to dry. 

Mix some brown gel food coloring with clear food grade alcohol then paint each part of the cake. Paint the body along the length of the sides and add darker stripes then paint all over. 

Use the fog gel food coloring to add dots onto the peaks along the cap of the acorn. Use a dry brush to blend it in. 

Lastly, use brown gel food coloring to paint the stem and add a touch of fog coloring to the top. 

Layer the body of the cake onto its side then insert a dowel into the centre. Spread on some ganache then add the top of the acorn. Add the stem to the cap then add a small piece of dark brown fondant to the base of the stem and texture and paint it so that it blends in.