Chocolate Shell Cake

This is a chocolate shell cake I made to celebrate the start of summer vacations! It is the rectangular chocolate cake recipe I featured yesterday. Then I made a quick mocha chocolate icing, not a buttercream but a bit of a thicker icing that looks shiny and spreads easily over stiff cakes. I coated the top and sides of the cake and used a hot knife to smooth it out, then I used a cake comb to create some wave patterns in the icing, though they are difficult to see here. I used a bit of a darker chocolate icing to pipe two different shell borders, one around the top and one around the bottom. I also added a few stars on the side of the cake and a few flowers on top of the cake. Then I used some chocolate shells (and seahorses and whatnot) to decorate the rest of the cake and give it a bit of a beach-like feel. To complete the look, I also added a few sprinkles of brown sugar around the edges to resemble sand. Graham cracker crumbs would also do the trick.

Chocolate shells can be found from many chocolatiers and grocery stores as well. They usually come in boxes of chocolates and include different shapes of shells - clam shells, conch shells, snail shells, and sometimes some sea animals as well. You can purchase some good quality and some cheaper chocolate shells. The box I had had a mixture of different types of chocolate - milk, dark, white, which made for some pretty shells that taste good too.
Happy Summer!