Chocolate Pinecones

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 140 degrees.
2. Add cake mix into mixing bowl and add water and oil. Then mix well until there are no lumps.
3. Line your baking tin with greaseproof paper or a coating of butter before adding in your mixture.
4. Put the cake into your preheated oven for 50-60 minutes.
5. Carefully remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool.
6. While the cake cools, combine cocoa powder, icing sugar, butter, vanilla extract and a splash of milk in a mixing bowl. Whisk everything together until smooth.
7. After your cake has cooled, crumble it into small pieces by hand or with a utensil in a bowl until it is finely broken up.
8. Combine the crumbled cake mixture with the prepared chocolate buttercream. Combine the two until they hold together, forming a sticky consistency that isn’t overly wet.
9. Divide into 8 portions and shape each into an egg form.
10. Press cereal pieces into the cake to create a pine cone effect.
11. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream.