How to make a Bake Off-inspired chocolate collar cake

Usually seen in fancy patisserie shops, chocolate collars can give a cake a professional finish, but can seem a bit daunting to make for a beginner.

However, it’s not difficult if you follow the rules and make sure you have the right equipment handy. Chocolatiers will use food-safe acetate for their creations but you can achieve decent results just using a strip of baking paper and a pastry brush.

olive magazine’s foolproof guide takes you through how to nail it, step by step...

How to make a chocolate collar

Melting chocolate for a collar can be a bit tricky but there are a few things to remember to ensure you get the best results. Start with a good quality chocolate, keep the heat even (never let it get too hot) and remember, water is the enemy of chocolate when it comes to seizing (turning the chocolate into a stiff, grainy mass).

Here’s a full guide from the olive magazine team to melting chocolate the right way:

Five tips to follow when melting chocolate

We use the chocolate collar to make our Black Forest cheesecake recipe look more impressive and decadent.

Here’s the recipe...

Black Forest cheesecake recipe

Janine Ratcliffe is food director at olive magazine

The Great British Bake Off continues on Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4